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After decades of self-imposed aloofness and looking through the Pakistani prism, India is now clearly warming up to the World of Islam.
The old-time wisdom in New Delhi's power corridors (that the world of Islam is per se pro-Islamabad) received a jolt when even Saudi Arabia stood by India, employing its secret and wise diplomacy to bear upon then premier of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, to withdraw his troops from the Kargil summits where they had gone in utter violation of the letter and spirit of the Lahore declaration that the two sides had inked only months earlier.
Pakistan's adventurism was a clear breach of Islamic international law, which does not allow treachery and clandestine war against a friendly or neighboring country bound by treaty. As a result, the Muslim world did not rise to support Pakistan. That fact seems to have exercised some lethargic minds in the Indian foreign ministry who, since the 1969 Rabat fiasco when the myopic General Yahya Khan prevailed upon the nascent Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to deny membership to India, have seen no hope of a rapprochement with Muslim countries.
Khan had done so despite the fact that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad and Sardar Swaran Singh, both ministers in Indira Gandhi's government, had rushed to Morocco with a hope to gain a seat in the new organization.
We have no way of reading the minds of those who have formulated Indian foreign policy ever since, but we can safely infer that this rebuff by the World of Islam, which failed to stand up against the bullying of the Pakistani general when the OIC denied representation to the world's second largest Muslim concentration, must have played its part in convincing India to become close to the arch-enemy of Muslims and Arabs - Israel, the usurper of Palestine.
In any case, despite trying to constantly improve relations with Tel Aviv, the current thrust of India's foreign policy makers is to focus on the World of Islam as a natural area for friendship, cooperation, and trade.
Thus we see, during the past year or so, that most of the Indian prime and foreign ministers' official tours abroad have been to Muslim countries like Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Iran. As well, a number of Muslim heads of state (like those of Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia and Algeria) have paid official visits to India.
Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh's Saudi visit was the most important - taking into account Saudi Arabia's unique position not only in the Arab World, but also in the World of Islam. It is now home to nearly 1.5 million Indian expatriates and accounts for about 30% of Indian trade with Gulf countries.
The current economic content of the Indo-Saudi trade and expatriate remittances is around $6 billion annually. Saudi Arabia alone provides around 25% of Indian imports of petroleum products. Despite Riyadh's traditionally close relations with Islamabad, Saudi Arabia and India share many common interests and are eagerly cooperating to achieve peace, security and prosperity in the Gulf region which is home to around three million Indian workers - largely to India's advantage as one of the five top fuel consumers.
India also has long-term relationships with Oman, Qatar, and Iran. "Energy security" is on the top of its foreign policy agenda, and maintaining good relations with the Gulf countries is imperative in achieving this goal.
It is high time that these positive and mutually beneficial developments are followed up in earnest. India should never allow its foreign policy with any nation to be hostage to its relations with a third party - be it the United States, Israel or Pakistan. It is also imperative that New Delhi realizes how important a role that Indian Muslims can play in strengthening this mutually beneficial relationship with the World of Islam.
There are many Indian Muslim names respected throughout the World of Islam, and in the Arab World in particular. It is a shame that New Delhi is blissfully ignorant of this aspect of its national wealth. Indian leaders are, at best, surrounded by self-serving "Muslim leaders and intellectuals" who are largely unknown - even in their national capital - and are ready to change loyalties at the drop of a hat.
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