​New friends: on India and Pakistan’s closest allies 

Amidst the shock over the Pahalgam terror attack, the resultant diplomatic measures against Pakistan and the likelihood of a military escalation, New Delhi’s attempts to strengthen ties with three of Pakistan’s closest allies may have been missed. But support from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Taliban regime in Afghanistan will be important to building India’s case against the perpetrators. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Jeddah when he received news of the attack. Although he cut short his visit, he discussed the attack at some length with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The joint statement recorded their strong condemnation of the attack, rejecting any attempt to “link terrorism to any particular race, religion or culture”. The wording marks the strongest such language used and is the culmination of the process begun in 2006 with the India-KSA Delhi Declaration, followed by the 2010 Strategic Partnership agreement that turned the compass in the Saudi Kingdom on terrorism. In 2012, Saudi authorities assisted India in securing the arrest of Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, an LeT Indian co-conspirator being tried for the 26/11 attacks. The assistance marked a turnaround in ties, given the Kingdom’s history of funding Islamist extremist groups at madrasas in Pakistan and other countries. Ties have now been transformed with technological cooperation and the promise of $100 billion Saudi investment.

With the UAE, India has made strides in cooperation, boosted by the signing of the Strategic Partnership in 2017, and at least six visits by Mr. Modi, leading to a stark turnaround since the 1990s, when India pleaded unsuccessfully for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim and in intervening in the 1999 hijack of flight IC-814. In April, New Delhi rolled out the red carpet for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, cementing ties with a country that has been one of Pakistan’s closest backers. Finally, this week saw a surprise visit to Kabul by the MEA’s point-person for Pakistan-Afghanistan-India and a meeting with Taliban acting foreign minister Muttaqi as well as a “categorical condemnation” by the Taliban of the Pahalgam killings — a far cry from the Taliban’s past in targeting Indian interests in Afghanistan in collaboration with Pakistani agencies and terror groups. It would not be pragmatic to assume a full change of heart with the Taliban, but the support against terrorism is bound to be one more pressure point on Pakistan. The salutary impact of well-timed diplomacy in turning around ties with countries that had refused India cooperation three decades ago is noteworthy.