‘Energy imperatives drive Indian foreign policy’

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shahid Husain
Karachi
Energy imperatives drive Indian foreign policy, since its economic growth would come to a halt if India’s energy needs were not fulfilled, said Dr Marie Lall, South Asia Specialist at the University of London.

Delivering a lecture on Saturday under the auspices of a marketing company, she said that Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline was crucial for India, since its energy needs were huge and Iran had large deposits of gas. “You have to understand that the energy drive of India is central,” she said.

The professor said that India needs regional peace for acquiring gas and fulfilling its energy needs. She said that India’s need for gas was greater than its need for nuclear energy, and argued that if Pakistan turns off its gas, India would turn off water in retaliation.

She said that India sees Myanmar as a land bridge, since the latter happens to be one of the most important South East Asian countries in terms of gas. Dr Lall also stated that good relations between India and Myanmar could also help India in rooting out tribal insurgency. The United States would have been much happier with gas coming to India from Myanmar rather than Iran, she added.

Dr Lall said the developments in India were very much influenced by Nehru’s vision whose first challenge was to create a national identity for India out of the various types of people who lived there. She said that the image of 30 per cent population of India comprising the middle class eclipses the image of 70 per cent that relies on agriculture for their livelihood. And that India has not been able to successfully irrigate its land during the last 60 years as Pakistan had done.

She said there has been a major shift in India’s foreign policy since 1947, and today the main aim of India was to get itself recognised as a global power in accordance with Nehru’s vision. She was also of the view that there was a “radical shift” in foreign policy under BJP and that “Hindus abroad were suddenly more than welcome.” According to her, the BJP had opened up economy to a much greater extent than Congress could have dreamt of.

She said that India’s closer relationship with the West was directly related to the nuclear deal but that “the deal has nothing to do with energy.” The reason for the deal, she said, was to emerge as a global power. According to Dr Lall, the United States sees India as a counter weight to China and is concerned about bringing her into the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) framework. On the other hand, she went on to say, India was vying to have access to fissile material and latest nuclear technology.

“India sees the nuclear deal as something that strengthens its sovereignty,” she remarked. However she also said that this particular notion had become extremely problematic for the Indian government in the fallout of the Mumbai terror attack. She said that India was acting towards Pakistan in the same manner as China was acting towards India, and that status quo with Pakistan in the long term would lead to better relations with the country.

Responding to a question, she said that India was very scared of Islamic fundamentalism and there was a fear that there would be more attacks on India in future. She said rational forces in India wanted to resolve problems with Pakistan peacefully but warned that Hindu nationalism had become much stronger in India.

To another question, she said that the image of India as an emerging super power has been portrayed by Indians living abroad, and not by Indian ministries. She said that Nehru had a vision, but today’s Indian leadership lacked such insight.

She said that water was never used as leverage by India against Pakistan, but she did see India directly harming Pakistan, which declared was “not a comfortable start.” She said there was a debate whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government was social democratic or neo-liberal but she thought it had both elements. To another question she said Pakistan’s level of poverty was much lower than in India.

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