Fighting Fire with Water: India, Israel & the United States

Dr. M D Nalapat
Professor of Geopolitics, the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India

That a human mind is short-term in its thinking is clear from the reality of few analysing events in the context of human history. It is as though 99.5% of the time our species has lived on Planet Earth is assumed to be nonexistent. Thanks to the hangover of European colonialism, 99.5% of taught history is focussed on the mere 500 years of European hegemony that formally ended a half-century ago, but which will effectively end within 2020. It is to escape from such a limiting straitjacket that the Manipal Academy hosted an India-China conference at the start of the new millennium. Both countries are the home of a civilisation that - unlike contemporaries such as the Greek, Roman and Persian - survives to the present. Together with the civilisations of India and China, the civilisation of the Land of Israel can lay legitimate claim to a lineage dating back five millennia. The great civilisation of Israel too has endured over this period, surviving the most extreme persecution in Europe, a litany of maltreatment that culminated in Bergen-Belsen, Dachau and Auschwitz. Today, the peoples of the land of Israel have still to endure the horrors of violence against themselves, this time not the 'jhatka' of the National Socialists but the slow, continuous 'halal' of Wahabbi-Khomeini followers. A people that has survived five thousand years with its élan intact will surely go on for at least another five millenia, assuming of course that Planet Earth does not explode or implode in the meantime.

Just as the India-China conference was more than a political talk-a-thon between two structures, but a meeting point for an exchange of information and energy between cultures and values that transcend government and politics, the India-Israel meeting is not just about a road map for co-operation between two Asian states and their natural ally, but a rediscovery of millennial linkages. India can, with pride, point to the absence of any anti-Jewish sentiment in its history. The reason for this lies in its own culture, a heritage that is the common property of all children of Bharat Mata, whether they follow Islam or Christianity or Judaism or Hinduism or other faiths. Sadly, such a value system is under threat from a well-funded conspiracy having its theological, financial and organisational roots in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan. The new pseudo-faiths of Wahabbism and Khomeinism have sought to make-believe that they in fact can be regarded as identical to Islam across the world. The reality is that both Wahabbism and its twin, Khomeinism, are pretender faiths that bear no similarity to the tolerance, vision and scientific genius articulated by the Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Unto Him). The great religion of Islam is sought to be substituted by a weird amalgam of ritual, glorification of individuals, and the establishment of brutal dictatorships. In fact, Islam eschews ritual, bans glorification of individuals, and does not recognize the authority of so-called 'rulers'.

As a result of the well-financed Wahabbi-Khomeinist network, of the 1.3 billion individuals who profess Islam, a billion are in danger of  being sucked into the quicksand of the Pretender faiths of Wahabbism-Khomeinism. Of the 300 million who are still far away from that risk, 150 million live in India. The Muslim community in India is a true example of the True Faith: whether it is the science of Abdul Kalam or the business acumen of Azim Premji, the culture of the Nawabs of Rampur or the music of Alla Rakha, all exemplify a religion that in its very first years spread across the globe. Each of the many distinguished sons and daughters of India who are Muslim exemplify Indutva - the reality that every Indian is a composite of the Western, Mughal and Vedic traditions. Unfortunately, thanks to Saudi-Pakistani-Iranian money and influence, there is a corner of India where Wahabbism holds sway. This is the Valley of Kashmir, where over the past fifteen years, members of the minority community have been forced to leave and places of worship belonging to them have been systematically destroyed. Some locations which the author has visited have even had their foundation stones removed to be used in building dwellings for fanatics from across the border now in Kashmir on a mission to Wahabbize the land. Sadly, almost no protest has come from the European Union to this act of ethnic cleansing and religious intolerance, even while troops were sent into Kosovo to prise that province loose from Yugoslavia. While there have been several negative comments on 'human rights excesses' committed by security forces battling terrorists in Kashmir, the EU has yet to voice a similar dismay over the activities of forces controlled by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, in India and Israel.

Kashmir needs to set an example to the rest of India on how to treat minorities. The treatment of religious minorities is a crucial touchstone for judging the degree of civilisation of a society. Israel and India, as one of the trio (together with China) of homes of civilisations going back five millennia, have the responsibility of setting a special example to the rest of the international community about the treatment of minorities. Every corner of both countries must be characterised by exceptionally fair and equal treatment of minorities. That is the only way both can be true to their immense heritage. An effective defense against the scourge of Wahabbism-Khomeinism must include the fair treatment of minorities in Israel and India. It is not enough that they be treated better than in other countries in the neighbourhood. That Muslims and Christians in India enjoy more rights than do Hindus in Pakistan or Bangladesh, or Arab-Israelis are given more political and other rights than citizens of Saudi Arabia is necessary but not sufficient. What is needed is that in absolute terms as well, they should be given a status equal to the majority. Closer ties between India and Israel will help both countries achieve that goal. Wahabbism-Khomeinism cannot be fought only by guns, aircraft and artillery. It needs to be defeated by the power of example, by showing the difference between the civilised and the barbaric. Those in Kashmir who razed temples, who brutally ensured that religious minorities got persecuted and finally expelled, who prided themselves on behaving the way Nazis did in the Third Reich, should not be given the compliment of emulation. Muslims, Christians and other minorities need to have the same rights in India and Israel as Hindus and Jews possess.

Where does the US - that 227-year old country - figure in the context of the natural affinity between Israel and India? Although the US is a young country, yet it has absorbed - not rejected - the traditions of several key cultures, including those originating in Israel and India. This ability to internalize great cultures and draw from their strengths has been a principal factor in the growth of the influence of the United States. Like India, this is another country that never persecuted the Jewish people, a people that have often been subject to harsh treatment in Europe and now in Asia just because they are - and let us admit it - of a quality much higher than most of us. The Jewish contribution to science, literature and the arts is far in excess of their number in the total population. Followers of the Jewish faith may be few in number, but the contribution they have made to human progress is immense. Unlike in Europe, where the devil of anti-Semiticism has been present for centuries, the United States has always ensured a level playing field for those belonging to the Jewish faith, just as the same facility has now been extended to those migrating from India. This fair treatment of minorities is the strongest defense of the United States against the terrorist forces inspired by Wahabbism-Khomeinism.

India and Israel need to always act in a like manner, ensuring a level playing field for all communities within their borders. Together with the United States, these countries form a natural triangle, bonded by history, by common interests and by the need for an active defense against the threat posed by Terrorism. In this war, success will come only if they themselves remain true to the ideals that underpin all great faiths. The protection of the world from religious intolerance, bigotry and extremism mandates the protection of the rights of all Israeli, Indian and US citizens by their governments, irrespective of racial or religious differences. Only through the practice of inclusivist moderation can the menace of Wahabbism-Khomeinism be countered. In brief, fight Fire with Water. Intolerance with Inclusivism, Extremism with Moderation. While there must necessarily be an iron response to terrorist groups and their backers, the population at large should be given the benefits of freedom and democracy within each country. Those who seek to fight fire with fire, bigotry with intolerance, hate with anger, are wrong. Fortunately, such people are a small minority in all three countries. The others need to link up with true Muslims in friendship and cooperation to fight the scourge of Wahabbism-Khomeinism that has its most visible manifestation in the parent organisation of the Lashkar-i-Toiba and the Jaish-i-Mohammed, Al Qaeda.