India is reaching out and touching the Islamic world. (Foreign) Minister, Jaswant Singh's recent visit to Iran, and his claim that the two countries are natural partners are part of a new thrust in India's foreign policy. It is based on the belief that there is enormous scope for pragmatic and profitable. engagement between India and key Islamic nations. Mr. Singh also plans to travel to Saudi Arabia ... This will be the first visit by an Indian Foreign Minister to the Arabian Kingdom in nearly two decades.

Meanwhile the interaction between India and other Gulf kingdoms is also beginning to grow.

The recent trips to India by Turkey's Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, and Indonesia's President, Abdurrahman Wahid, reflected the new possibilities for cooperation between India and leading Islamic states. Turkey and Indonesia are two major pillars of secular order in the Islamic world and are emerging as valuable interlocutors for India. For too long, India has been diffident in seeking viable strategic partnerships with major Islamic nations.

India had given a virtual free-run to Pakistan in mobilising political support from these states, in the name of Islamic solidarity, in its disputes with India. Weighed down by the Pakistan factor, handicapped by flimsy economic linkages with the oil-rich nations, and overawed by the Islamic politics in the Middle East, Indian diplomacy was paralysed.

Three new factors have given India unprecedented opportunities to turn a new leaf in its relations with the Islamic world. One is the rise in religious extremism and terrorism that is threatening peace and stability within the Islamic states. Two, there is a new convergence of commercial interests with the petroleum-rich nations. And three, India's economic potential and its improving relations with the United States and other great powers are altering the perception of the relative weights of New Delhi and Islamabad.

Sensing the new opportunities, India has begun to shed its traditional inhibitions and step forward to a new engagement with the Islamic world ...

The success of India's (Islamic) diplomacy is premised on a rapid economic growth ... Equally important is New Delhi's commitment and capacity to deepen the respect for the rights of religious minorities within. Success on these two fronts will further differentiate India from Pakistan, raise the commercial interest of the Islamic world in India, and remove the few remaining irritants in the ties between the two sides. The new initiative towards the Islamic world is an important adventure in India's foreign policy and deserves strong domestic political support. (Source: The Hindu, 25 May, 2000)