Retired Indian Maj.-Gen. Gagan Deep Bakshi has cautioned that a deepening partnership between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan could undermine India’s strategic position, while making clear that New Delhi will not abandon its relationship with Iran to satisfy Israeli concerns.
Speaking to Republic World, Bakshi described the recent understanding reached in Mecca among Ankara, Riyadh and Islamabad as the formation of a new regional bloc that India must treat seriously. “A Sunni NATO comprising Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan has been established in the Middle East, in Mecca, and that is a serious cause for concern,” he said.
From New Delhi’s viewpoint, he argued, Iran remains an indispensable counterweight to Pakistan. “We very much need Shi’ite Iran to be on our side because Pakistan is our primary security headache. China may be the main threat, but together with it, Pakistan is our biggest security headache,” Bakshi stated.
He drew a sharp comparison between how Israel views Iran and how India views Pakistan. “Iran does not have even a single nuclear bomb, and yet it is perceived as an existential threat to Israel. And what about Pakistan? A fundamentalist, jihadist Islamic state that possesses 180 nuclear warheads,” he claimed.
He added that Israel has shown little equivalent anxiety about Pakistan’s arsenal: “We have not seen Israel losing sleep over the bombs in Pakistan’s hands because they are considered a threat only to India.”
Bakshi pointed to concrete evidence of Turkish-Pakistani military cooperation during India’s Operation Sindoor, asserting that Turkey provided nearly 1,000 drones and assistance in operating them.
“This was already a ‘Sunni NATO,’ with or without an agreement. Turkey and Pakistan are already in an undeclared practical alliance,” he said.
He also noted that Turkey dispatched a warship to Karachi during the same period, underscoring the closeness of the security relationship. While acknowledging that “Turkey has the largest army in NATO,” Bakshi questioned its ability to intervene directly in a South Asian conflict because of geography.
Any Turkish naval force, he said, would have to sail through the Mediterranean and Arabian seas—where “The Indian Navy can tear apart any Turkish armada that tries to come to Pakistan’s aid.”
Turning to India-Israel relations, Bakshi was unambiguous. India values its partnership with Israel, he said, but will not subordinate its own interests. “I am afraid that at some point Israel will also have to be sensitive to Indian concerns,” he declared. “We are not the 51st state of the United States, and for that matter we are also not an appendage or client state of Israel. We are friends, certainly. But vassals? No, sir.”
He rejected any expectation that India should sever ties with Iran at Israel’s request. “You cannot simply whistle and make our senior leaders go here and there, and ask us to sacrifice our interests,” Bakshi said. “You cannot tell us: Throw Iran away because you are at war with it. When it comes to Iran, you cannot ask us to sacrifice our interests.”
Iran’s value to India, he emphasized, is both economic and geostrategic. It offers access to discounted oil that can be refined in India and re-exported, and it provides critical overland routes. “Iran provides India with the land bridge to Central Asia and the land bridge to Afghanistan, and these are of vital importance to us.” Closing those corridors because of the Israel-Iran conflict is not an option: “We cannot close these land routes because Israel is at war with Iran.”
Bakshi’s overall message was that India-Israel friendship remains important, yet it has clear limits when core security and economic interests are at stake. Against the backdrop of closer Turkey-Pakistan coordination and the specter of a broader Sunni alignment, he suggested that India’s relationship with Iran is growing more, not less, essential.
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