India must consider troops for West Asia: Former Indian NSA

New Delhi, Jan 21: With much at stake in West Asia, India must rethink its strategy and extend military support for peace in that region, even as it cannot have a single firm policy on Pakistan, former tiol security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has said. “Our approach and behaviour should change in defence of our interests in West Asia,” Menon said in a lecture hosted by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) at the India Habitat Centre Wednesday evening, listing the compelling reasons as its seven million citizens working there, the $35 billion inward remittances and large oil imports, among others. “I’ve no doubt that sooner rather than later India will have to make real political and military contributions to stability and security in this region that’s so critical to our economy and security,” Menon said alluding to New Delhi’s present policy of participating in a military resolution only under a UN flag.

Menon, a former foreign secretary, said there was a huge change in the West Asian (Middle East) situation today with four key players - Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Israel - having their own unique positions. If these were to get together, the problem could theoretically be resolved. At the same time, one must not look at the old Western order anymore, he added. Yet, he also saw a positive outcome from this. “To my mind this world is as much of a challenge as an opportunity for a country like India that wants to change the reality that we have inherited. I only hope that we once again show the wisdom to seize the day,” he said. Menon said India faced a different situation from what it had got used to, benefiting from 20 years of average growth of over 6.5 percent. “We can no longer assume that others will guarantee the safety of the sea lanes that carry our foreign trade and our energy supplies. Nor can we assume that a benign intertiol order will keep the peace,” he said.

“We will have to decide how far we wish to assume new responsibilities, and how far we are willing to compromise on strategic autonomy and work with others on these security issues,” Menon said to a packed audience comprising diplomats, officials and members of the strategic community. “At the same time, many more powers, facing the same uncertainty, are and will be willing to work with India in this effort, as we already see in maritime security and counter-terrorism,” Menon said.

Menon, who began his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1972, was the country’s tiol security advisor between January 2010 and May 2014, and the foreign secretary between October 2006 and July 2009.

The 66-year-old, who played a key tole in forging the India-US nuclear deal, rubbished the notion that India’s policy on Pakistan was not working and maintained that it was not possible for New Delhi to have a one-size-fits-all approach with the neighbour.

“We can’t have one policy, dealing with many Pakistans,” he said, referring to multiple actors there, each with a different notion and agenda — civil society, the government, the army, Inter-Services Intelligence, religious groups and terror outfits. “So you run multiple policies,” he said, adding it was in India’s interests to have good relations with Pakistan. They, in any case, have nothing to lose, unlike India. “They have no tourism to talk about and no investment to start with,” he added. Menon, who has also been India’s envoy to four strategically-important countries, mely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Chi and Israel, alluded it was also because of multiple actors in Pakistan that one faced peculiar situations. (IANS)