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the largest democracy in the world was addressing the nominated
parliament with limited consultative and recommendatory powers which
at that time had no female members.^2
In line with the earlier example, both the leaders endorsed the Riyadh
Declaration towards ushering in A New Era of Strategic Partnership
(Annexure 7 ). This they hoped would mark a new phase “in keeping with
the changing realities and unfolding opportunities” and in accordance
with “the civilizational, historic and cultural links” between the two coun-
tries and their people. They called for the full implementation of the Delhi
Declaration “through exchange of visits at the ministerial, official, busi-
ness, academic, media and other levels.” By then the G-20, in which both
are founding members, had institutionalized the annual summit meetings
and the leaders pledged to work towards bringing about a transformation
“in the global economic order, including continuous coordination within
the framework of the G-20 framework.”
Both agreed to work “towards strengthening their strategic partner-
ship” in “infrastructure, energy and development” and referred to the
Kingdom “meeting India’s increasing requirement of crude oil supplies.”
As with the Delhi Declaration, both the leaders “noted that tolerance,
religious harmony and brotherhood, irrespective of faith or ethnic back-
ground, were part of the principles and values of both countries.” They
went on to add that these “are the same principles advocated by the initia-
tive of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for dialogue among dif-
ferent faiths and beliefs.” This was an explicit reference to and the Indian
endorsement of the National Dialogue initiated by King Abdullah in
2003 whereby he engaged with Shia leaders of his country. This move
paved the way for small improvements in the social conditions of the Shia-
minority population and their inclusion in the Majlis al-Shura. However,
in the light of the sectarian discord in the Middle East following the Arab
Spring such promises and improvements have become a distant memory.
By 2010, the demise of the Oslo process was apparent and both sides
squandered the gains of the historic handshake on the Lawns of the White
House on 13 September 1993. Hence, Riyadh Declaration called “for
the early resumption of the peace process” towards establishing “a sover-
eign, independent, united and viable Palestinian state, in accordance with
(^2) The first Majlis al-Shura with a four-year term was established in 1993 and 30 female
members were appointed only in 2013 when the strength of the council was increased from
120 to 150.
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR