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'India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea'
KARACHI: Although India is being considered a rising economic giant and a major political player in the region, analysts believe there is not a remote chance that the nuclear-armed country can become a global power to match US might.
With India making waves in the international community through its rapid economic growth and thaw in relations with arch-foe China, the South Asian country is being keenly watched by international affairs experts.
Pakistani observers say India may be a major power in Asia, but it certainly doesn't have the potential and resources to dethrone US as the sole global power.
Former federal minister and writer Javed Jabbar outright rejected the idea, claiming that at the moment India neither has resources nor other ingredients that could make it a global power at par with America.
There is talk of India getting permanent membership of United Nations Security Council and becoming a global power. I say that there is hardly any possibility that India will get the membership or God forbid veto power. Even China is not a global power as yet despite being an economic giant. But US is a global power because it has used it resources, it has intellectual and economic power, and the Americans think and plan for future after disasters.
They have control over media and then, above all, they have military power having military advisers in some 100 countries which makes them a global power. These are not Jewish conspiracies. The Americans have earned all this through knowledge and hard work. There might be some miracles in 50 or 65 years from now but before that I don't see India as a global power, said Jabbar.
He was speaking at a seminar, India as an Aspiring Global Power: Regional and International Implications; The West's Response, organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE), University of Karachi, on Wednesday.
The former senator, however, believed that Pakistanis should not be fixated or paranoid because of the Indian economy or large population and instead should focus on ameliorating their economy which would help make this a prosperous country.
Lt-Gen Moinudding Haider (retd), a defence analyst, agreed with Javed, saying that although India had better economy than Pakistan, it still faced abject poverty and did not have the potential of becoming a global power owing to lack of elements the US had.
To become a global power a country needs to have a long reach of strategic weapons, technology, research, robust economy, and military. India doesn't have the kind of technologically-advanced weapon system like the US has.
US is truly a modern state where they have excellent health care system, education, their athletes win most of the gold medals at Olympics, while they are still considered an economic giant despite financial crisis. And then they have massive military. Whereas India is a poor country where if anybody throws a banana peel, a child will pick it up to eat. How it can become a global power despite this sort of poverty, asked the general.
Gen Moin said India had hegemonic designs through its involvement in Afghanistan as it wanted to have a partner to tackle Pakistan from another side.
India has been involved in so-called development projects. They are building schools, hospitals, roads things which a common man can see. This is to gain sympathies of the Afghans. Once the Americans leave, India would want the Afghans to ask them to send its army for security purpose. And it will be certainly to deal with Pakistan from another front.
Shedding light on Indo-Afghanistan relations, Ms Uzma Shujaat of ASCE said the neighbouring country had been involved in several development projects to serve its national interest, especially 218-kilometre Delaram-Zaranj road for movement of goods.
This strategic road built by India will certainly have a negative impact on Pakistan as it will give Afghanistan access to sea from Iran's side. Since 2001 India has a different kind of relationship with Afghanistan, she said.
The scholar said that in order to curb militancy, taking Taliban on board would be a prudent approach which can yield positive results.
Without involving Taliban in talks, we cannot have peace. It is now vital to bring Taliban on board and that's why now the US is talking about good and bad Taliban and seems ready to talk to them.
Farhan Hanif Siddiqui from the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, said that Sino-Pakistan relations would not have a negative impact, although Indo-China ties had taken a giant leap.
India and China initially had good relations in late 1940s and shared communist ideology, but later they faced hostility from each other because of border disputes. But recently during visit of Indian President Pratibha Patel, the two countries have remarkably improved relations. China even assured that it would back India's bid to become a permanent UNSC member and also talked of trade balance with India which is quite significant, he said.
He, however, felt that the idea of India and China becoming global powers was far fetched.
Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema from the Islamabad Policy Research Institute said that India had been planning to have three aircraft carriers to have stranglehold on Indian Ocean, although powers like UK and France had lesser number of aircraft carriers.
But Gen Moin believed that India might not become a dominating factor in the Indian Ocean despite its plans to equip its Navy with three aircraft carriers.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | 'India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea'
KARACHI: Although India is being considered a rising economic giant and a major political player in the region, analysts believe there is not a remote chance that the nuclear-armed country can become a global power to match US might.
With India making waves in the international community through its rapid economic growth and thaw in relations with arch-foe China, the South Asian country is being keenly watched by international affairs experts.
Pakistani observers say India may be a major power in Asia, but it certainly doesn't have the potential and resources to dethrone US as the sole global power.
Former federal minister and writer Javed Jabbar outright rejected the idea, claiming that at the moment India neither has resources nor other ingredients that could make it a global power at par with America.
There is talk of India getting permanent membership of United Nations Security Council and becoming a global power. I say that there is hardly any possibility that India will get the membership or God forbid veto power. Even China is not a global power as yet despite being an economic giant. But US is a global power because it has used it resources, it has intellectual and economic power, and the Americans think and plan for future after disasters.
They have control over media and then, above all, they have military power having military advisers in some 100 countries which makes them a global power. These are not Jewish conspiracies. The Americans have earned all this through knowledge and hard work. There might be some miracles in 50 or 65 years from now but before that I don't see India as a global power, said Jabbar.
He was speaking at a seminar, India as an Aspiring Global Power: Regional and International Implications; The West's Response, organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE), University of Karachi, on Wednesday.
The former senator, however, believed that Pakistanis should not be fixated or paranoid because of the Indian economy or large population and instead should focus on ameliorating their economy which would help make this a prosperous country.
Lt-Gen Moinudding Haider (retd), a defence analyst, agreed with Javed, saying that although India had better economy than Pakistan, it still faced abject poverty and did not have the potential of becoming a global power owing to lack of elements the US had.
To become a global power a country needs to have a long reach of strategic weapons, technology, research, robust economy, and military. India doesn't have the kind of technologically-advanced weapon system like the US has.
US is truly a modern state where they have excellent health care system, education, their athletes win most of the gold medals at Olympics, while they are still considered an economic giant despite financial crisis. And then they have massive military. Whereas India is a poor country where if anybody throws a banana peel, a child will pick it up to eat. How it can become a global power despite this sort of poverty, asked the general.
Gen Moin said India had hegemonic designs through its involvement in Afghanistan as it wanted to have a partner to tackle Pakistan from another side.
India has been involved in so-called development projects. They are building schools, hospitals, roads things which a common man can see. This is to gain sympathies of the Afghans. Once the Americans leave, India would want the Afghans to ask them to send its army for security purpose. And it will be certainly to deal with Pakistan from another front.
Shedding light on Indo-Afghanistan relations, Ms Uzma Shujaat of ASCE said the neighbouring country had been involved in several development projects to serve its national interest, especially 218-kilometre Delaram-Zaranj road for movement of goods.
This strategic road built by India will certainly have a negative impact on Pakistan as it will give Afghanistan access to sea from Iran's side. Since 2001 India has a different kind of relationship with Afghanistan, she said.
The scholar said that in order to curb militancy, taking Taliban on board would be a prudent approach which can yield positive results.
Without involving Taliban in talks, we cannot have peace. It is now vital to bring Taliban on board and that's why now the US is talking about good and bad Taliban and seems ready to talk to them.
Farhan Hanif Siddiqui from the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, said that Sino-Pakistan relations would not have a negative impact, although Indo-China ties had taken a giant leap.
India and China initially had good relations in late 1940s and shared communist ideology, but later they faced hostility from each other because of border disputes. But recently during visit of Indian President Pratibha Patel, the two countries have remarkably improved relations. China even assured that it would back India's bid to become a permanent UNSC member and also talked of trade balance with India which is quite significant, he said.
He, however, felt that the idea of India and China becoming global powers was far fetched.
Dr Pervez Iqbal Cheema from the Islamabad Policy Research Institute said that India had been planning to have three aircraft carriers to have stranglehold on Indian Ocean, although powers like UK and France had lesser number of aircraft carriers.
But Gen Moin believed that India might not become a dominating factor in the Indian Ocean despite its plans to equip its Navy with three aircraft carriers.
DAWN.COM | Pakistan | 'India's global power aspirations a far fetched idea'
