Why India should join the war against Islamic State

A week, they say, is a long time in politics. In the world of international politics, a week could be an eternity. The Islamic State (IS) gunmen and suicide bombers who attacked Paris last week didn't just kill innocent people and cause mayhem. They may have also now inadvertently set the stage for a major realignment of interests between global powers, raising the possibility for the first time of joint coordinated action against the rampaging killing machine that the terror organisation is.

Next week, French President François Hollande will travel to Washington and Moscow to discuss such a possibility. Media reports from Washington seem to suggest that the US may not be averse to joining hands with Russia against the IS. However, the thorny issue of what to do with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia's relationship with Iran still remain.

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All this seemed unthinkable two weeks ago when differences between Russia and the US seemed as unbridgeable as the distance between the two countries. Atrocious terror attacks have a way of uniting countries, peoples and communities as witnessed briefly after the 9/11 attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put himself squarely in the centre of the global debate on how to wage the war on terror through his speech at the G20. Modi has proposed an action plan that includes, among other things, isolating and containing sponsors and supporters of terrorism while delinking terror from religion. All this may seem boilerplate responses to some, but they miss the big picture. What Modi is trying to do here is to make India a partner and a player in the global war on terror.

Modi is not shying away from the fight against terror like his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as claimed by Saba Naqvi in these pages ('26/11 Notwithstanding...', Nov 17, goo.gl/Peizg9). Naqvi wrote that Prime Minister Vajpayee had shied away from sending troops to Iraq in 2003 and used the services of CPI member A B Bardhan and D Raja to scuttle the plans of some people in his administration.

The reality, however, is different. India had been subjected to virulent Islamic terror attacks much before 9/11 brought the word 'terrorism' to households in the West. The Congress government could do little and watched helplessly as terror squads rampaged across the country. Unlike the Vajpayee era, when the greatest danger was Pakistani infiltration into Kashmir and another Kargil-like war, the post-9/11 era in India has been dominated by terror strikes on temples, railway stations, cafés, hotels and other public spaces. Hundreds of people have died and few culprits brought to book.

Effective anti-terror measures combined with high quality intelligence and better policing can change the game in favour of security agencies and against terror organisations waiting to strike India. But it will be a longdrawn-out battle and success won't be apparent immediately. Effective international cooperation is also essential.

Modi's game plan here is essentially twofold: isolate the staunchly anti-India elements in Pakistan's army and the ISI by making India an economic powerhouse and a magnet for foreign investment for countries like China and some in east Asia. Second, use the opportunity presented by the IS attack to be part of a powerful coalition of nations against terror, and use the goodwill and support generated to further put pressure on Pakistan.

History may or may not repeat itself, but students of history and politics like Naqvi may sometimes fervently wish that it does. So, the Iraq war becomes a template against which all international interventions against terror need to be measured, with India needing to eschew all international cooperation like the way Vajpayee refused to send troops into Iraq.

What Naqvi doesn't realise is the big difference between the two situations. The Iraq war was a bitterly controversial one, dividing the world into two camps: those for the US intervention and those against it. The battle against the IS is not like that. Almost all important, powerful countries are united against the threat and the message sent out by G20 is clear and robust.

With Russia and the US on the verge of burying their differences, the Modi government has a golden opportunity to be a part of an alliance that takes on the scourge of the 21st century.