What is the best way for India to get out of this Al Qaeda vortex?
For India a question of what happens in Pakistan -- if Pakistan is going to become a failed State, or will it continue being used by the jihadis to attack India or within Pakistan -- has to be resolved. That has to be India's number one priority. Also, a situation in Afghanistan is the major issue and it has to be resolved.
I think America's policy wanting to occupy and impose regime on Afghanistan is not the right policy. I don't think it's a policy that would succeed. I don't know what could be the real solution for the region. I am quite pessimistic, actually, in the short term.
Do you think the Indo-US relationship, that has grown manifold in the last four-and-a-half years, is also one the reasons for India becoming a sharper target for Al Qaeda?
Certainly. Al Qaeda says so. Not only the relationship between India and the US, but the relationship between India and Israel is a reason. Jihadists take it as proof that India is also an enemy of Islam. They use this kind of an argument.
At one profound level one has to realise that India is no longer an equal partner with Pakistan. India has grown much bigger and much stronger and much more prominent in the world.
Pakistanis have an obsession with India. They want to think of an India as an equal in rivalry. But both are not equal. India has surpassed Pakistan. And India is not a failed State. India is moving in the right direction and India might become a superpower in the future.
Pakistan is an irritant to its neighbour and you will have to find ways to minimise the damage to yourself. Pakistan can damage itself too. Finding a formula for this situation is not an easy thing.
As an outsider and a Westerner, how do you see India managing the Hindu-Muslim relationship? Do you think for the sake of its national interest India will be able to achieve a balance?
Absolutely. I think the formula that you have here, to have a secular government which recognises the rights of the religious minority, is the right formula. You can improve on it, perhaps you can give quotas to uplift your minorities, you can put more attention in improving their social-economical conditions because there are groups who have been left out of the success story of India, but there is no question that India is the successful model.
It is remarkable to see how many different communities you have in this country. Occasionally you have problems but by and large you get on. You are tolerating each other. And I think that is a fantastic thing. Pakistan should learn a lesson from it.
Image: December 25, Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg lights a Menorah (ceremonial lamp) in front of Nariman House, Colaba, south Mumbai, where his son Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his daughter-in-law Rivka were killed by terrorists. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters.
Also see: India will have to fight in its own way
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