The annual cultural show of the Indian American Student
Association never fails to impress its audience, especially Indian
American students who witness in a unique way a breathtaking fusion
of their Indian and American backgrounds. This year’s show,
which took place last Saturday, was no exception: performances were
fresh and diverse, and the performers were brilliant.

Embedded in the show was an interesting informational video clip
of Indian current events, at the forefront of which was the
emerging alliance between the governments of India and Israel. It
is an alliance that should not be celebrated, it should be
denounced.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Indian Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee have many similarities, and it is these
similarities that have brought the two together in what they refer
to as a “natural alliance.” But the alliance is only
natural for each country’s leadership, and not for their
common people. The governing coalitions of each country are
dominated by right wing religious (Jewish and Hindu) nationalists
who use tactics of fear — fear of terrorism, fear of
insecurity, fear of danger — to justify their often inhumane
treatment of Muslims and other religious minorities, including
Sikhs and Christians.

Superficially, the alliance may appear to be a natural
relationship between two friends of the United States who call
themselves democracies and face terror threats from Muslim
extremists. But at its core, the alliance is between two
religiously affiliated governments who can work together to
suppress self-determination movements and the basic human rights of
religious minorities, especially Muslims.

Trinity College Prof. Vijay Prashad wrote in an essay entitled
“Namaste Sharon,” that “Sharonism, Hindutva, and
the Evangelical Imperialism of the Pentagon disgust the ordinary
people of India, Israel and the United States. Our opposition to
this entente is fueled by that disgust — and by the politics
of retaliation and fear that keeps you in power.”

The politics of retaliation and fear, the message conveyed by
the Israeli and Indian governments that terrorism is the common
enemy and that violence must be used to stop it, is fundamentally
repressive and anti-Muslim. Fear is used as an excuse to retaliate:
to justify the bulldozing of civilian homes because their owners
have relatives who committed an atrocity, to justify the denial of
basic human rights, including the right to drinking water in some
cases and to justify the killing, raping and beating of thousands
of Muslims in Gujarat in early 2002. After the atrocious Gujarat
riots, the Gujarati chief minister, representing the same party as
Vajpayee, said, “Slowly but surely, Muslims have been made to
realize what life can be in a Hindu state.”

It is the policies, statements and beliefs of Israel and India
that generate terrorism, not the other way around.

For the second anniversary of Sept. 11, Sharon made a symbolic
visit to India. During his trip, he visited the tomb of Gandhi, the
peaceful and tolerant father of India who was assassinated by a
right-wing Hindu nationalist, not unlike Vajpayee, for being too
kind to India’s Muslims.

With blood still on his hands from Lebanon, from Sabra and
Shatila, from the bulldozers and the “strategically aimed
missiles,” from yesterday, today and tomorrow, Sharon wrote
in the site’s visitors’ book, “From Jerusalem,
the city of peace, eternal capital of the Jewish people, I bring
you a message of hope and peace.”

Back in Delhi, with blood on his hands from Ayodhya and Gujarat,
Vajpayee welcomed Sharon, who announced, “We regard India as
one of the most important countries in the world.”

As the spectators watched the IASA show video, very few of them
probably realized the implications of an Israeli-Indian alliance.
Few probably thought of the instability that such an alliance would
bring to South Asia, where a significant population will feel
threatened by the partnership of two governments that respect the
rights of only their own kind.

As students, and for many of us as young South Asian Americans,
we need to educate ourselves about why the Israel-India alliance is
problematic for our community and for the stability of South Asia.
We need to realize that our generation must take active steps to
ensure that the future of both South Asia and the Middle East are
not carved out of the current leadership of these two
countries.

Chowdhri is the chair of the Pakistani Students Association,
Saksena is a co-chair of the South Asian Awareness Network and
Shuttari is the political chair of the Muslim Students Association
and a member of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality.