Rolling out Persian carpet

Indo-Iranian relations were revived when a conscious initiative was taken by the Congress Government between 1991 and 1996 to clear misunderstandings and develop substantive relations. Interactions between late President Shankar Dayal Sharma and the then Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, with President Rafsanjani of Iran led to the revival and continuity in political contacts and incremental consolidation of economic relations. This included spheres of technology and information technology. During the ’90s, Iran agreed to give India transit facilities through its ports and territories to the Central Asian Republics.

A setback to Indo-Iranian relations in the recent past was the destruction of the Babri Mosque in December 1992 and the consequent Hindu-Muslim riots when a large number of persons of Iranian origin were affected, particularly in Maharashtra. Iran’s critical response to these events in India, however, did not last long, and high-level Indo-Iranian contacts between 1993 and 1996 resumed.

Khatami’s recent visit must also be understood in the context of certain complementarity of interests between Iran and India. Iran has been isolated from the international community since the 1979 Revolution, primarily because of USA’s persistent hostility towards the nation’s current leadership. Thus, a substantative and feasible working relationship with a democracy like India helps in reducing, if not eliminating, this isolation. Secondly, India is a large potential market for Iran’s hydrocarbon energy resources. Thirdly, Iran needs a range of manufactured and industrial goods as well as technologies and investments from India. Fourthly, Iran’s giving of transit trade facilities to reach Central Asia would benefit Iran too, in terms of improving its ports and transportation infrastructure. India also has the second largest Shia Muslim population in the world, perhaps second only after Iran. Plus, Iran shares the concerns of India about a unipolar world dominated by one power.

The benefits of India having good relations with Iran are: Iran is a major Asian power, more particularly, a major Islamic country, with whom contact could contribute to India improving relations with other Islamic countries. Given the likelihood of continuing Pakistani hostility towards India, an equation with Iran is an obvious balancing factor. Iran could become a long-term source of hydrocarbon energy resources required by India. Iran is a large market for Indian investments, technologies and exports.

Given the remote possibility of India having access to Central Asia from Pakistan and Afghanistan in the foreseeable future, Iran is the closest route through which India can access Central Asian markets. Iran is an important geostrategic entity straddling the Gulf, an area of interest to India both politically and economically.

While this is the matrix of the mutuality of interests which influences the policies of Iran and India towards each other, one has to acknowledge that these potentialities are being realised with inadequate speed. That Khatami promised to be the chief guest on Republic Day when Iran remains on the America’s ‘Axis of Evil’ list underlines the fact that despite India’s desire to have friendly and cooperative relations with the USA, India is not going to compromise on its national interests and its freedom of options in dealing with important countries of our region. Khatami was welcomed to India at a critical juncture in regional developments when the US is poised to attack Iraq, which is opposed by the majority of countries in the world, particularly in Asia. The credibility of the present power structures of the Gulf has been under challenge due to the moral claims and democratic impulses generated by the Iranian Revolution. Whatever isolation or criticism Iran suffers, it is a harbinger of change in West Asia.

Khatami and his delegation signed several agreements during their visit, which included the expansion of transit facilities from India to Central Asia from the ports of Chabahar and Bandar Abbas. There was not much progress on the possibilities of supply of gas from Iran through a gas pipeline running through Pakistan through the project is still on the drawing boards. Tribal groups in Baluchistan — Mazaris and Bugtis — destroying the gas pipeline in Baluchistan added to the project’s apprehension and uncertainty.

On the vital issue of Indo-Pakistan relations, Khatami took a detached and correct stand which is a marginal improvement on the generally pro-Pakistan stance that Iran usually takes on the Kashmir issue. On the whole, Khatami’s visit was assessed as an important step in the right direction. But there is also a feeling that the visit did not result in any major initiative.

We must not underestimate Iran’s pronounced Islamic identity. We must not structure our relations with Iran on any expectation that it would distance itself from Pakistan and other Muslim countries due to India’s importance in its foreign policy. Iran’s relations with other Islamic countries, good or bad, would depend on the manner in which the policies of countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan and political developments affect Iranian interests. Subject to these considerations Iran will always remain an important point of interest in India’s West Asian policy.