43in the then East Pakistan which resulted in the deaths of two million per-
sons, and at least 200,000 Bengali women, mostly young and unmarried
girls, were raped by Pakistani men in uniform (Alamgir and D’costa 2011 ).
Much of the Middle East, notably the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, viewed
this genocide as the ‘domestic affair’ of a fellow Islamic country and hence
refused to raise their voice. Islamic solidarity prevailed over elementary
human concern and justice.
Interestingly, on 4 February 1972 Israel became the first country from
the Middle East to recognize Bangladesh, but Dhaka rejected this move.^5
By the end of 1972, Republican Iraq and Yemen (Ahmed 2004 , 207)
recognized Bangladesh while Egypt and Syria took similar steps after
Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman met their leaders during
the fourth NAM summit in Algiers in September 1973. Rest of the Middle
East recognized Bangladesh only after the second OIC summit ironically
hosted by Pakistan in Lahore in February 1974 (Jacques 2000 ). Saudi
Arabia established formal diplomatic relations with Bangladesh only after
the assassination of the founder leader Mujibur Rahman in August 1975.
In other words, Bangladesh—a crowning moment in India’s foreign
policy—did not enjoy even a minimal understanding, let alone sympathy,
from Riyadh. Since the perpetrator of mass violence was an Islamic coun-
try, al-Saud opted to side with Islamabad than with the oppressed people
of Bangladesh.
The next major challenge came in 1973 through the oil crisis which was
a rude shock for India. With its low energy consumption and continued
reliance on traditional non-conventional sources, its energy demands were
not considerable. Much of its requirements were met through domestic
production. The Arab oil-producing countries, especially Iraq and Saudi
Arabia, were appreciative of India’s traditional support for the Palestinians
and this was their prime demand in enforcing an embargo against the
Western countries. Hence, India was not directly affected by the supply
shortage, but the oil crisis stunned India at two levels. One, the sudden sup-
ply disruption and price hike had a cascading effect upon its economy,
which was growing at a low annual rate of about 2 per cent. Far more
importantly, India was heavily dependent upon imports for its requirements
of oil products as domestic refineries were inadequate to meet the demands
of mass-consumed products like kerosene, lubricants and engine oil.
(^5) In line with the practice of many Islamic countries, Bangladesh continues to maintain that
its passports are valid for all the countries, except Israel.
DRIFTING APART