Is India totally foreign policy challenged or is she playing plain stupid. Well, what else can I say about the way she has been handling the Nepal coup.
First she acted (reacted would be better) as if she was taken by surprise by the King's actions. Now we are seeing selected leaks in the media saying that India was in the know about the King's intentions for quite sometime and that India had adviced the King against taking such a drastic step, for it would remove the political/parliamentary buffer between the Maoists and the Monarchy. Nevertheless....the King went ahead anyways !!
Now come on, does this mean that India had absolutely no say in the flow of events in the Himalayan country ? So much for being a regional power !!
Well, whatever has happened, has happened. We cannot turn the clock back. So how is India going to play this game out moving forward ?
I got the answer to this question today. Bang was the headline on The Rediff - "India, Britian stop military aid to Nepal". Why the hell on gods beautiful earth would India do something like that. Let me guess - restoring democracy in the himalayan kingdom !! Oh for god's sake can't we learn from the past.
Readers please recollect that we, "the great Indian democracy", sided with the democratic movement in Myanmar led by Aung San Suu Kyi against the military junta. And what did we get in return ? The beginnings of a strategic encirclement of India. Thanks to the national security establishment, Myanmar is now in the Chinese lap.
Now, Nepal is all poised to take a gaint leap - northward. And there goes another buffer state. We lost Tibet as a buffer state in the 1950's due to our short-sightedness and now Nepal.
Nepal is at a cross road. The ecomony, democracy and now the monarchy are pulling it in different directions.
India should try to contain the situation by engaging the King in a prolonged diplomacy rather than serving him ultimatums. India should impress upon the King that if he continued on the current path, he would be the last King of Nepal who will be presiding over the demise of the Monarchy. He should be encouraged to give parliamentary democracy another chance. India should also redouble its efforts to bring about unity and consensus between the various political parties in Nepal and the monarchy so that they can together deal with the maoists.
Stopping military aid will only weaken both the monarchy and the Army that is fighting the maoists. A maoist victory in Nepal will have serious repercussions for India's own internal security.
If India does not back off from its present ill-adviced strategy, we would soon see a Sri Lanka like situation in Nepal where foreign powers will intervene to negotiate a settlement between the warring factions with India watching from the sidelines.
5 comments:
Yep! Wonder why the govt of India was upset by the Kings action. I cant take it that it was to save democracy....there was none earlier. Its been a few years since a democratically elected govt was in place. The one the King dismissed was appointed by him. So does it mean it took the Govt of India & Govt of UK years to realize that there was no democracy and they had to do something about it? Nepal had only 3 things - Mockarcy(not democacy), Monarchy and Maoists. If the Indian govt had some prudence, it would have strengthened the Nepalese army to weed out the Maoists, and then work on restoring democracy. Taking a political high moral ground nevers yields anything good. When will Congress party learn this?
If fear the 'Nut'war singh, the external affairs minister. His publicity stunt of bringing bus service between Muzzafarabad and Srinagar, without any serious paper work could miserably backfire. He is going around creating a mess where ever sets his foot on. Some may just be unrecoverable follies.
Mohan,
You are right. Some how it looks like the congress seems to be getting it all wrong. Whether it is Nepal or the Bus ride. I hate to attribute this to the present govt but I am afraid the foreign policy establishment lead by Natwar Singh is living in a fools world. I am not sure what our National Security Adviser M.K Narayanan is doing. Is anyone even listening to the advisory board ??
hai Eshwar
u know india can do any think for nepal because nepalis r bahadur and no bahadur needs help from others
i mean no help
My dear Anonymous friend...its great to know that Nepal does not need external help to solve the problem.
And I suppose India too would do the same when it came to its issues.
However, looking at issues in an isolated fashion is not going to help and believe it or not, Nepal's issues do effect India too.
So in that sense its only logical and natural for India to take interest or in the least keep a close watch. Which ofcourse does not mean uncalled for and unnecessary interference.
Anyways, as of today its good to learn that Nepal has resolved the crisis and is well on its way to debate and adopt a popular constitution. Congrats and good luck.
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