Is defence the only reason India cosies up to Israel?

The irony was lost on no-one. The man from whom India was set to learn lessons in curbing "terror" was forced to return home post haste after two bombs exploded in Israel, killing 15 people.

Surely, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strong arm tactics have yielded nothing more than a spiralling cycle of violence in Palestine. Indeed, he has more to learn from India, a pluralistic democracy where might does not necessarily make everything right.

In fact, while the Israeli premier's visit to India this week may have been planned for some time, the spectacle of an Indian prime minister and a known liberal actually greeting the deeply reviled prime minister of Israel in the forecourt of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan raised a number of questions – chiefly, whether India was turning defence ties that will give it the edge over neighbouring Pakistan into a major policy shift in India's strategic alliances in the Middle East.

It is now widely known that without their help in 1962 and 1965, India would have been unable to have keep either China or Pakistan at bay. Despite the US tilt towards Pakistan in '71, it was again Israel that came to India's help.

Long-standing ties

During Kargil, the laser guided missiles shipped in by Israel, as well as the Bofors shells that came in via South Africa, with whom Israel had long standing military ties right through the apartheid era, gave New Delhi a qualitative edge in that "war-like situation".

Even the argument by military strategists that India losts its strategic nuclear edge after both nations went nuclear, and that the gap can only be closed if India goes shopping for military hardware to beef up its conventional advantage is relevant.

Only a handful of countries today offer modern avionics, says Air Commodore Jasjit Singh, who heads the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

"These include the US, France and yes, Israel. Over 80 per cent of India's military infrastructure is overwhelmingly Soviet era. And ageing. While it's major defence needs will continue to be met by the Russians – experts say the cost could run into Rs 60 billion – India's military planners have stressed that with Israel, they finally have access to first class US technology long denied to India through sanctions, while freely accessible to rival Pakistan," he said.

Where the Indian government is to be faulted, therefore, is being unable to separate a defence deal from a perceived strategic shift . The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government has actively pursued the Jewish state, no more or no less than the previous Congress governments.

Over the years, intelligence sharing on militants in the Kashmir valley, who have fanned out into Afghanistan and Iraq, have become a key component of the emerging relationship. Former prime minister, Narasimha Rao, has the dubious honour of establishing diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv in '92.

Until very recently, these defence ties which included training of defence personnel remained largely secret. The BJP's overt warmth to Israel has a continuum. In part, it is fuelled by its desire to befriend the Jewish lobby that dominates the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration.

But unlike previous leaders such as Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres (who has visited India in '93, '01 and '02) Sharon's track record is one of savaging a desperate people, his targeted assassinations of Hamas and Palestinian activists.

Breaking bread with him reinforces the image of a right wing Indian government that makes common cause with an enemy of Islam. Gathering Sharon into India's embrace, therefore, is sheer folly.

While the BJP hawks will tell you that India stood with the Palestinians while Egypt's Anwar Sadat made peace with Menachem Begin, and that India's needs dictate reaching out to the cheapest arms supplier, the government must do more to reassure the Palestine leadership and other Arab leaders that dealing with Israel does not necessarily mean a dilution of support for a Palestinian homeland.

Striking down anti-Israeli clauses at the Durban conference may help bring down the price of the missiles that India desperately wants, but India's image, its energy needs and the reservoir of goodwill that allows over four million Indians to work and live without any ill-will in the lower Gulf must not be compromised at the alter of ties with Israel.

Recent visitor to New Delhi, Nabil Shaath pointedly rejected India's national Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra's theory of an Indo- Israeli-US axis to fight terror as "complete nonsense".

And with good reason. Some BJP hardliners may be lost in admiration at the Israeli army's methods of crushing the Palestinian Intifada, but neither Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee nor Deputy Premier Lal Krishna Advani could adopt these methods and keep the moral high ground on Kashmir.

The BJP itself has been at pains to say there can be no linkages between Kashmir and Palestine – the Kashmiri 'jihad' is fuelled from abroad, while the Palestinian is wholly indigenous.

Pro-active retaliation

Second, it is India's rejection of pro-active retaliation – crossing the border to crush militant hide-outs – that has won it brownie points after Kargil and when its parliament was attacked. Israel is, therefore, no role model. Nor can India expect the same relationship with the US that Israel enjoys.

In the sub-continent, the US needs Pakistan more than ever in its fight against terror as the hydra-headed Al Qaida regroups. In the larger strategic environment, Iran which has big power ambitions in the region, and sees a congruence of interests with India, will be wary of the direction that New Delhi is taking.

Iran is keen to open up the much prized route to oil and gas rich Central Asia to energy starved India. With the Israeli inspired ratcheting up of tension over Iran's nuclear facility, and persistent threats by Israel of punitive action to take out any nuclear threat from Tehran, the Iranians will be doubly wary of any attempt to cosy up to the only threat to their status in the region.

An isolated Israel may be seeking legitimacy by brandishing its ties with India, while India could be waving the Israel card to set off an arms race in the sub-continent that could lead to the implosion of an inherently weak Pakistani economy, but the key here is that while Indian markets are being eyed hungrily by an Israeli defence and manufacturing sector shut out from the rest of the Arab world, it would be prudent to see that the blood from Sharon's hands does not stain the pristine "dhotis" of the Indian leaders.

India's fight against terror cannot be muddied by Israel's calculated war against Islam.