Yemen crisis: What role can India play?

New Delhi, March 30: India's primary concern where the Yemen conflict is concerned is evacuating the several thousand people who are stuck in the conflict zone.

As preparations are on to airlift the Indians the Indian government is also planning to ship out its citizens who have been finding it impossible to get out of the war-torn nation. [Yemen Crisis: Explained]

While the evacuation is the most important agenda for the Indian government, it is also to be seen what the government's reaction to conflict as a whole would be.

Will India interfere in the conflict in a bid to restore peace or would it watch hopefully for the crisis to die down.

C D Sahay the former Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing says that the conflict in Yemen and the rest of the regions has to end. "India would hope it does since we have huge energy security considerations in the region", he said.

Sahay discusses with OneIndia the Yemen conflict in the Indian perspective and also why Pakistan has stayed out of it despite its ally Saudi Arabia launching strikes over there.

Implications could spill over:

"India's primary concern is two fold and India would hope that any further confrontation in the region would stop. The conflict has a sectarian flavour to it and this is the primary agenda driving the conflict in Yemen.

There are a lot of other issues too, which have put the region on the boil. One must also remember the ISIS phenomenon, which poses a threat not only to the regional countries but also go beyond.

A long conflict of this nature driven by these various factors would not be in the interest of India and also the rest of the world. The implications of such a conflict could spill over well beyond the region," Sahay pointed out.

India's concerns:

The former RAW chief also says, "India's primary concern for now is its population. The first priority would be to evacuate all the Indians out of Yemen and the process for the same has already begun.

India also has a huge energy security consideration in the region as our petro based energy comes from these regions. In this context the conflict will have huge concerns for India."

What can India do?

It would be up the regional players there to settle the problem first. India usually does not interfere in these conflicts, but we are always willing to pitch in to ensure that normalcy is restored.

India cannot be drawn into an extra regional conflict. Wait and watch with a lot of concern is the only thing that we can do as of now. India would know that these regional nations have their own mechanisms to take care of the problem.

Moreover, the violence is sectarian in nature. The Indian Muslim has been wise enough not to let it affect them and spill the problem over in India.

However, any interference by India could affect the dynamics in the country. Till date there has been no such problem, but who knows how things could shape up.

Why has Pakistan stayed away:

According to Sahay, "Pakistan has the second largest Shia population in the world after Iran. The country has been a witness to sectarian violence and cannot afford the situation to worsen it in its own country."

"Sectarian violence has a strong flavour in Pakistan itself. Any interference on its part in Yemen could only lead to the situation in Paksitan going out of hand."

OneIndia News