The meeting of Indian Foreign Minister, S. M. Krishna with Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in Tehran on 18 May 2010 was lauded by both the sides as warm and cordial. President Ahmedinejad went to the extent of expressing Iran’s satisfaction at a rising India which can play a global role. Besides, on the issues of regional importance particularly the issue of Af-Pak, he was of the view that both the parties should be in contact in devising common means to tackle the problems. These developments may appear disconcerting to some powers but for the protagonists of good India-Iran relations these were something long overdue. In fact, the press of both the countries, on the occasion of the recent meeting, repeatedly pointed out the long civilizational ties and cultural relations between the two countries. The contested nuclear issue in the context of Iran which has recently led to divergence of approaches of both the countries affected the bilateral relations. However, it did not totally dry up the warmth the bilateral relations. More importantly the implications of the meeting were not confined to the bilateral relations rather they bear implications for the globe in many ways.
The meeting which took place on the occasion of the 14th G-15 meeting in Tehran in fact set the tone for an exalted agenda for the developing countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki argued, “After the end of the cold war era the regional groups spent a hag period of relative stagnation for some 15 years.” The Iranian news agency IRNA quoting him pointed out how certain world powers could hope to turn the world into unipolar, but which in fact did not happen. The same sentiment was echoed by Ahmedinejad during his meeting with Indian foreign minister. While lauding India’s economic strides and its emergence as a global player the Iranian president argued both the countries ‘should not neglect the present opportunities to replace the dying big powers.’ Ahmedinejad known for his acerbic style in pronouncements left no stones unturned in his criticism of the powers which wanted to change the global order to their advantage. Hence his exhortation to India and other powers to challenge the existing discriminatory world system must have echoed in other centres of power in the world. Iran has viewed the nuclear disarmament regime as discriminatory, and as a result engaged in a protracted opposition to it.
Second most important development in this meeting was the President’s emphasis that both the countries should be in contact with regard to development in the region of the Af-Pak, the region which has recently surfaced the most in international power configurations. Iran, having common border with Afghanistan, undoubtedly enjoys a clout in the region. Any format for peace hence must have to take into account the concerns of Iran. Similarly India too has raised its stakes in the country. It has already committed $1.2 billion for reconstruction of the war torn region. Hence, any coming together of these two countries along with other powers such as Russia and China makes sense in making the region peaceful and stable. More importantly, when the NATO forces are all set to leave the region, it has become crucial for the regional powers to develop a common agenda for stability in the region.
Another crucial development, rather commonality in approach that surfaced during the meeting of Indian minister with Iranian officials was on the issue of terrorism. Indian foreign minister during his meeting with the Speaker of Iranian Majlis, Ali Larjani on 16 May 2010 deliberated on the issue of terrorism emanating in the region of Af-Pak. Both the sides agreed that the net work of international terrorism has one of its key centres in the region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and for its control it needs a regional solution with cooperation from regional powers. It is a common knowledge that most of the international terror incidents have their genesis or links to this region.
The Indian officials might have self applauded at their successful talks with the Iranian leader and officials. In fact past few years have seen some strenuous marks in their relations with India supporting the US in international forums regarding Iran’s nuclear disarmament. Another issue that affected the relations is non-materialization of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. India has expressed apprehensions about the success of the pipeline project and prospects of advantage to India due to its differences with Pakistan. These developments in fact widened the gap between these two countries despite the repeated exhortation on the part of the leadership of both the countries of age old relationship, cultural ties, common border of undivided India with Iran, etc. Due to the strains in the relationship the Indo-Iran Joint Forum has almost become ineffective.
The recent developments will likely mend much of the strains in the bilateral relations. As one of the steps in positive direction both the countries will likely hold the meeting of the joint forum soon in this year. Iran is a major energy supplier to India and bilateral trade of both the countries has already surpassed the $14 billion mark. Perhaps the mutual differences will be subdued by other emerging issues such as that of Af-Pak, terrorism, energy, etc. It can be mentioned here on the issue of Kashmir, Iran has taken a moderate approach suitable to India’s policy. It can be argued the emerging imperatives of the world order will likely goad both the powers to adopt common approach on various issues having implications for bilateral ties as well as other issues.
No comments:
Post a Comment