168 i n t e r n a t i o n a l f a c t o r sused Islam as a means of asserting its pro- Arab credentials, India used
secular logic to explain its support.^9 Israel became a hostage to this Indo-
Pakistani rivalry. K. M. Panikkar’s prediction of free India taking a more
sympathetic view of Jewish po liti cal aspirations never materialized. On
the contrary, driven by need to counter, minimize, and circumvent Paki-
stan’s initiatives, India became more unfriendly toward Israel. Two closely
linked issues, namely the Kashmir dispute and concerns over an Islamic
bloc, shaped India’s preoccupation with Pakistan.
The Kashmir problem became international when Nehru chose to re-
fer the dispute to the United Nations on January 1, 1948. Since then,
Kashmir has dominated its foreign- policy calculations. New Delhi feared
that the United Nations would impose either an unacceptable settle-
ment or one that would undermine India’s vital national interests. Hence,
Kashmir fi gured in Indian discussions with Israel. Indian leaders felt
that a settlement to the Kashmir problem would enable India to move
closer to Israel. In May 1949, for example, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Nehru’s
sister and the leader of India’s UN delegation, suggested that recognition
of Israel “may happen soon after the settlement of the Kashmir dis-
pute.”^10 This was supposed to be one of the reasons suggested by Mau-
lana Azad for his opposition to normalization of relations in 1952.^11 India’s
accommodation of the Arab veto over Israel at Bandung could be linked to
the Kashmir issue. In 1961, when Prime Minister Nehru blamed the Arab
factor for the absence of relations, he was merely highlighting India’s vul-
nerability over Kashmir.^12 A number of observers have noted Pakistan’s
role in infl uencing India’s Middle East policy.^13 When the Kashmir issue
fi rst came up for discussion in the United Nations, there were six Arab
states.^14 As this number grew over the years, India became apprehensive
of losing Arab support to Pakistan. It soon became a simple function of
the math: one Israel versus many Arab states.
Kashmir was not the only problem. Recognizing India as a secular
and cosmopolitan state undermines the raison d’être for Pakistan being
a Muslim homeland in South Asia.^15 Thus India’s secular credentials had
to be discredited. Pakistan often expressed concerns over the welfare of
Indian Muslims and charged that they were being persecuted by the
Congress Party. It is not uncommon for many Pakistanis to see a con-
spiracy between the “Hindu India” and “Jewish Israel” not only against
Pakistan but also against the wider Islamic world. They periodically
highlighted Gandhi’s “Zionist friends,” and some went to the extent of
describing the Mahatma, some of whose writings caused much pain and