Hammadurrahman of CIWAD India talked to the former Ambassador of India and a keen observer of West Asian affairs, Amb. Anil Trigunayat,(former ambassador of India to Jordon, Libya and Malta) on different issues concerning India West Asia relations. Excerpts:
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Hammadurrahman (HR): West Asia has been a volatile region for the last decade; how do you see these transformations will shape the region?
Ambassador Anil Trigunayat (AT): You have rightly mentioned that West Asia has been a volatile region but not only for the last ten years. The ten years that you are talking about are mainly the period of the Arab spring. But the Arab spring brought out the fundamental fissure in the society and the difference between the leadership and the people. Irrespective of which country you talk about, there has been a great dissatisfaction at the ground level. In all these countries of the Middle East, the Arab spring brought to focus the unmet expectations, disadvantages, and disenfranchisement. So we saw the Arab spring starting with Tunisia. Partly it failed, and partly it succeeded in achieving democratization. In my view, it was a sui generis revolution that started in Tunisia and spiraled to Egypt and Syria. It was an external intervention combined with the local revolution in Libya, and then it moved on to Yemen and Syria.
In the process, the expectations of the people changed drastically. Thanks to their rich energy sources, Gulf countries, like Bahrain, managed these happenings by providing social security and introducing reforms. However, they have also been forced to change their way. Reforms were introduc
