Asif Mahmood
Iran is bidding farewell to its Supreme Leader. For the Iranian people, this is a moment of profound grief, perhaps the saddest they have witnessed in the past two or three decades. Pakistan has sent a high level delegation that includes the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Field Marshal, the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, and the Chief Minister of Sindh to stand with Iran in its hour of mourning. India’s Prime Minister, however, declined to attend the funeral.
This was despite the fact that the Iranian President had extended a formal state invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not only did Modi choose not to attend, India compounded the slight by sending a third tier representative. Even the Foreign Minister did not go. Instead, India dispatched its Minister of State for External Affairs. This was not merely diplomatic restraint. It carried the appearance of deliberate disrespect. India’s conduct tells the larger story of the game that Israel and India are playing in this region. Whether people choose to recognize it is now a matter of their own willingness.
What is equally surprising is that not a single prominent Shia leader in India has, so far, publicly condemned Modi. No one has challenged him by saying: you stand with Israel, and you must not cross this line of humiliation and disgrace. Stop before we hold you accountable.
As a student of politics, I find myself wondering why such fiery warnings are reserved only for Pakistan. Despite Pakistan’s extraordinary efforts to act in good faith, it is Pakistan that is repeatedly lectured, taunted, and abused. Pakistan is told that it has crossed every limit of disgrace and must stop.
The pattern is remarkably similar to what has happened to the Deoband school in India after the vision of Abul Kalam Azad. The space available to it has shrunk to such an extent that it has effectively withdrawn from politics. Modi has made life increasingly difficult for Muslims in India’s public sphere, yet the leadership of Deoband lacks even the courage to criticize him. Meanwhile, in the Pakistan created by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the same Deoband leadership raises its voice repeatedly and challenges governments at every opportunity.
The obvious question, then, is this: in which country have Muslims truly enjoyed freedom? In India, where even a murmur invites consequences, or in Pakistan, where people enjoy the freedom to speak, criticize, and challenge authority openly?
People in Pakistan have often failed to appreciate their own country. At times they have gone to extraordinary lengths in doing so. Yet it is Pakistan that repeatedly plays a constructive role beyond its own means and capacities. It has shouldered responsibilities for the wider Muslim world that it was never obliged to bear. Even then, Pakistan remains the preferred target of rhetorical attacks. It is Pakistan that is accused of lacking an independent foreign policy.
Would these critics care to examine India’s foreign policy and tell us how independent it truly is?
Under pressure from Israel, India did not even preserve the sensitivities of its relationship with Iran, despite years of close cooperation whose effects often extended into Pakistan itself.
Does this not once again prove that difficult times reveal who truly stands beside you and who does not? Is any further evidence really required?
In international politics, proclaiming friendship is easy. The real test comes in times of crisis. When adversity knocks at the door, that is when genuine friends are separated from opportunists.
For years, India and Iran described their relationship as a strategic partnership. India invested billions of dollars in the Chabahar Port project. Both countries referred to one another as important regional partners. Within Pakistan, there has long been a perception that Iranian territory was used for anti Pakistan activities backed by India. The case of Kulbhushan Jadhav has frequently been discussed in that context. Iran attached exceptional economic, diplomatic, and regional importance to its ties with India.
Yet when Iran faced one of the most difficult moments in its recent history, India scarcely looked in its direction.
It was Pakistan that stood beside Iran as a friend, a supporter, a well wisher, and a helping hand.
Those who are quick to criticize Pakistan should answer one simple question. Why did India’s Prime Minister refuse to attend the funeral? If India is truly an independent global power, whom was it afraid of? The United States? Israel? Or both?
If India genuinely claims complete independence in its foreign policy, then why did it decline to attend the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader? Iran, if it chooses, is fully entitled to ask that question as well. Indeed, it has every reason to do so.
The alignments are now unmistakably clear. India stands alongside Israel. India is pursuing a process of Israelization in South Asia. And in South Asia, Pakistan alone stands in opposition to the shared agenda of Zionism and Hindutva.