A million bridges

The oil boom of the 1970s brought the Arabs great wealth and seeming influence. But this was dissipated and did not close the democratic deficit. Though it did initiate a process of modernisation and development, there was a widening gulf between the new affluence and the Arab street. The Arab world was divided and often at war with itself and the Palestine-Israel conflict, like the Iranian revolution, led to radicalism and the kind of fundamentalism that spawned the Taliban, Al Qaeda and its jihadi offshoots. The west’s support of Israel and its ability to manipulate the region’s politics and oil resources seemed to limit autonomy and created a siege mentality. The “good Muslim” — read fundamentalist Islam — was summoned to the aid of the American-led coalition against godless Communism and the “Evil Empire”. Against this background, Huntington’s ‘‘clash of civilisations’’ virtually pitted Islam, and separately China, against western Christendom in a new Crusade. Islam was demonised. Saddam Hussein was patronised, in the hope that he would checkmate or even destroy Iran, just as was Osama bin Laden in another context. Iraq-I followed and then 9/11 — a catchphrase that distorts the history and geography of global terrorism — triggered Iraq-II or “The War of the Missing WMD”. The War on Terror long differentiated between “good” terrorists and “bad”, depending on who got hurt.

The Arab world was left seething. A UNDP Arab Human Development Report summed up the unease and resentment of Arab peoples over the wide gap between their potential and achievement in the backdrop of what had been a proud inheritance and a glorious past. The tragic and wilful invasion of Iraq has bred rage and more atomised terror. Encouraged by regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq, powerful elements within the US administration believe that other Arab states are ripe for democracy, with Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran heading the list. Such arrogance of power is fraught with danger and could further fan the flames of hatred, fanaticism and violence.

Is there an alternative? Through all the turmoil of international terror, the 140 million Indian Muslims have kept strictly aloof. The Muslims of South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh included, number 450 million and account for 40 per cent of world Islam. It is, even today, qualitatively different. Islam in India was influenced by its exposure to many cultures and other world religions from its earliest encounter with South Asia along the Malabar coast during the lifetime of the Prophet. A deep infusion of Sufi thought and, subsequently, British rule left a marked western impress on the country and all of its communities. The ending of the Mughal empire in 1857 did evoke lamentation, but early withdrawal symptoms among Muslims were soon countered by the Aligarh movement in a drive for modern education that would enable Muslims to compete and hold their own with the best. Perhaps the only Muslim Nobel laureate, other than for literature, has been a South Asian — Prof Abdus Salam of Pakistan.

The run-up to Partition sadly polarised Hindus and Muslims, the dominant communities of South Asia. The continuing Indo-Pakistan rift bred rival fundamentalisms, with Pakistan in particular finding it convenient to use Islam to portray “Hindu” India as the “Other” as it failed to evolve a positive identity for itself. Nevertheless, both Pakistan and Bangladesh, despite Islamisation and jihadist tendencies in the former and similar tendencies of late in the latter, are essentially liberal and moderate societies. A resolution of their problems with India, real and imagined, is a task that we need to pursue with vigour and dedication notwithstanding the wall of mistrust that divides our peoples. And this we need to do without seeking narrow reciprocity, as the larger and stronger partner.

Rapprochement is in our highest interest. The peace process with Pakistan will, hopefully, gather momentum. A similar approach towards seeking an overall resolution of all issues with Bangladesh needs to be initiated. India cannot prosper in full measure unless it enjoys a peaceful and cooperative neighbourhood, which allows SAFTA and a South Asian Community to come into their own. The jihadists and radical Islamists will soon find little purchase in these countries once the Indian bogey is laid to rest. What this will do for South Asia is obvious. But what it can do to redeem world Islam should invite serious reflection.

It would spark more rapid economic growth and a social and cultural renaissance among the sub-continent’s 1.4 billion people. If India by itself has the promise of becoming a world power, think of the impact of a revivified and truly democratic South Asia, with its 450 million Muslims (and growing) in the vanguard of world Islam in every department — economic, technological, cultural, military. This is not to denigrate the other Islamic nations — the Arab world, Iran, Central Asia, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia. But the sheer size, human and cultural resources and general potential of South Asian Islam stand out. If this is recognised, it must offer an alternative to the American-Western thesis of “regime change” and imposed “democratisation”. That goal should then be factored into Indian, South Asian and global diplomacy to move world Islam along a different trajectory that enables it to recover its own rich heritage. If this is a task for others, it must also be a primary task and vision for India to assist Indian Islam to emerge from the shadows and take its rightful place with others in the Indian sun. This too is happening.