Daily Times

Twice in a row, India has had to eat a humble pie at the hands of Iran this month. After being shown the door in the Chabahar Port Rail project, now India has been “dropped” from an ambitious Iranian gas field project that had been in the pipeline for the past 10 years. India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said Tehran would develop the Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf region “on its own” and might engage India “appropriately at a later stage.” This was a face saving diplomatic statement because the truth is that last week, Masoud Karbasian, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), confirmed to reporters that a new operator had been roped in to develop the gas field, replacing India’s ONGC.

Indian stake in the claim of the $5.5b “Farzad-B” gas project emanated from the fact that the field, estimated to possess 21.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, 12.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 212 million barrels of gas condensates, was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies – ONGC, Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation. According to the deal, the Indian side was supposed to develop the field but they abruptly stopped work in 2012, following the intensification of sanctions against Iran.

India has only itself to blame for the debacle. It was reportedly dragging its feet on the number of pipelines to be laid and financial investment in the development plan. The NIOC had asked the Indian side to submit a financial plan for the field’s development. However, Tehran was “not impressed” with the $5.5 billion investment plan and asked for a new one. In August 2019, after slow progress by the Indian side to submit a new plan, Karbasian said Iran would proceed with another operator for the project.

India has long used Iranian soil to launch terrorist attacks on Pakistan. Commander KulbhoshanJadhav, who was arrested from Balochistan, confessed that he had established a trading house in the Iranian port city of Chabahar, from where he was operating against Pakistan under a false name of Hussain Mubarak Patel. India was keen to foment trouble in Balochistan and through sedition, recruit Baloch youth to commit acts of insurgency.

What may act as salt in the wound is the development that Iran has opted for India’s arch rival China to replace India. The change comes on the heels of a 25-year $400 billion deal between Iran and China, Indian geo-strategist and author Brahama Chellaney termed it “India’s loss and China’s gain”. He commented on Twitter: “While India’s compliance with the US sanctions has undercut its ties with Iran, China has bought with impunity heavily discounted Iranian oil. “China is expanding its foothold in Iran with nearly 100 projects.”

India’s main opposition Congress Party also termed India being dropped from the Iran railway project a “big loss” for the country, while raising questions over the Modi government’s “diplomacy”.

India’s main opposition Congress Party also termed India being dropped from the Iran railway project a “big loss” for the country, while raising questions over the Modi government’s “diplomacy”

India has been hiding its economic meltdown, which may have acted as a catalyst in not releasing funds for both projects in Iran; it was using US threats of sanctions as an excuse. The truth is that the US had given a waiver to India for its participation in the Chabahar Port Project. Commenting on the state of the economy, Indian writer and human rights activist, Arundhati Roy notes that “while Modi has delivered on Hindu nationalism, he has stumbled badly on the free-market front. Through a series of blunders, he has brought India’s economy to its knees.”

The ground reality is that New Delhi and Tehran had been drifting apart and in March this year, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged India to “confront extremist Hindus” and “stop the massacre of Muslims”, adding to the international fallout over deadly violence in New Delhi. India is facing criticism from across the world for sponsoring violence against the Muslims. Apart from frequent cases of mob lynching, several mosques have been burnt in India.

“Iran condemns the wave of organized violence against Indian Muslims,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, in response to which New Delhi summoned the Islamic Republic’s ambassador and lodged a protest.

Iran’s stern warning to its erstwhile ally came at the heels of a dressing down from OIC and the Turkish President. “The OIC calls on Indian authorities to bring the instigators and perpetrators of these acts of anti-Muslim violence to justice and to ensure the safety and security of all its Muslim citizens and the protection of Islamic holy places across the country,” the tweet said.

Similarly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out against “massacres” of Muslims in India after communal riots in New Delhi left at least 44 dead. “India right now has become a country where massacres are widespread. What massacres? Massacres of Muslims? By who? Hindus,” Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara after violence broke out this week between mobs of Hindus and Muslims over a controversial citizenship law enforced by the Modi government. Indian fallacy was to isolate Pakistan but currently, it is New Delhi, which has been left out in the cold.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host