India Plays A Very Significant Role!
DR. SAWRAJ SINGHINTERNATIONALAFFAIRS / EDITORIAL
The six world powers USA, China,Russia, UK, France, and Germany, justsigned a nuclear deal with Iran inGeneva. This Accord is very significantand will play an important role in maintainingpeace and order not only in theMiddle East, but the whole world. TheUS-Iran reconciliation has been welcomedby the whole world, except Israel.It clearly shows the growing isolation ofIsrael in the world. Another importantpoint is that India and Indians played avery significant role in this deal.It was not sheer coincidence thatPresident Obama called the IranianPresident Hassan Rouhani after Obamahad a discussion with the Indian PrimeMinister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Obama’sadvisor on Iran, Puneet Talwar, also happensto be a person of Indian origin. Heis an expert on Iran. Both Indians andIranians are people of Indo-Europeandescent in Asia. Besides racial and ethnicsimilarity, they have always had close historicalrelations.The two most famous Queens in India’shistory, Nur Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal(her actual name was Arjumand Banu),were of Iranian descent. The Persian languageand culture had a profound impacton India, particularly Punjab. Persian wasthe state language not only in the MughalDynasty but also of Maharaja RanjitSingh. The Parsi community, which has avery big influence in India—much biggerthan their numbers—is of Iranian origin.The famous Tata family is Parsi. Besidesthe beautiful Queens Nur Jahan andMumtaz Mahal (in whose memory theTaj Mahal was built), many other Iranianorigin women have earned fame in Indiabecause of their beauty. The two mostfamous Indian Supermodels PersisKhambatta and Meher Mistry happenedto be Parsis.I have met many Iranians in America andEurope. They have always had greataffinity for India and Indians. ManyIranians told me that they feel Indiansand Iranians have many things in commonbesides race and history. Generally,Iranians have very positive impressionsabout Indians; they feel that we are wiseand intelligent people.For many years, I have been writing thatIndia should play a part in reducing differencesbetween America and Iranbecause India has good relations withboth. Instead of becoming a party to theconflict, India should help resolve theconflict. I am very glad that India finallyplayed that role.This role is more compatible with India’sperception by the rest of the world as theleading non-aligned country. This rolefits India’s traditional image, whichenhances India’s prestige and respect inthe world. I feel as if my writings hadsome positive impact.Iran and the six world powers have basicallyagreed that Iran will reduce itsenriched Uranium and halt its heavywater reactor. Iran will also give moreaccess to the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Fordoing this, the western powers willreduce their sanctions on Iran and alsomake available (in installments) 4.2 billiondollars of Iranian money (frozenassets). Both sides got something. Thereis no winner and no loser. This sets agood precedent for resolving many otherconflicts.India can play a similar role in resolvingmore conflicts. India has good relationswith both America and China now andwith Japan and China as well as withVietnam and China. The general principlethat India should help to resolve conflictsrather than become a party to conflictbetween these countries is good forIndia as well as for the rest of the world.The western powers should understandthat the era of their domination is overand the present world order has tochange. The only good choice they haveis to agree for a peaceful change ratherthan start a Third World War, which candestroy the whole world and no one maybe the real winner of this war. The USIranreconciliation is a great step in promotingand preserving world peace. Indiadeserves a lot of credit for that and it hasenhanced India’s stature in the worldbesides bringing economic benefits in thelong run.Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is theChairman of the Washington State Networkfor Human Rights and Chairman of theCentral Washington Coalition for Social Justice.He can be reached [email protected].
