Iraq Crisis: No Arab policy, yet Centre seeks help

New Delhi: Representatives of West Asian governments here note a bitter irony that while India desperately seeks Arab help to bring back the remaining 39 Indians held hostage by suspected Sunni insurgents in Iraq, India’s latest foreign policy enunciation makes no mention of this country’s ties with the Arab world.

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Pointing to the President’s address to the joint session of the two Houses of Parliament earlier this month, delivered to mark the inauguration of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, a key Arab ambassador here said he was flabbergasted by the omission, given the significance of the relationship.

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The bulk of India’s oil and gas needs are met from the Arab world, primarily the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The overwhelming bulk of Indians abroad live in these Gulf countries mainly Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but also others. According to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief released recently, their remittances in 2013 was nearly $30 billion, while the total remittances from Indians living abroad in all countries was $70 billion in the same year.

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