Touchy neighbours
We must adopt a low profile on Tamil killings, aid the Tamil population to rehabilitate itself, and develop strong trade ties with Sri Lanka.
Despite protestations of efforts to the contrary, India has had poor relations with all her close neighbours and good or better relations with the more distant ones. What is it about us that we regard ourselves as a gentle, decent, polite people, but our neighbours regard us as acquisitive, greedy, arrogant and acting like a superior power? We can fool ourselves that neighbours distrust us because we are so big, bright and successful. We must disabuse ourselves of this notion.
The Pakistan story is etched into all our minds. It began with partition and the feeling of many Indians that any religion including Islam is no basis for a state. It was aggravated when wily V P Menon and farsighted Vallabhai Patel ‘persuaded’ all Muslim-ruled kingdoms except Hyderabad, Junagadh and Jammu and Kashmir, to accede to India. Kashmir remained a sore issue, made worse by the invasion in 1947 by Pakistan Army backed tribals and the de facto division of the state into Pakistan and India occupied portions.
Nehru mistakenly promised the United Nations to hold a plebiscite, which has not taken place in either portion for 64 years. Meanwhile J&K became another state in the Indian Federation and for many, an irrevocable part of India, despite requiring an ‘army of occupation’ of one quarter to half a million soldiers to retain complete hold over it. Pakistan fought two more wars, local conflicts (eg, Kargil), and innumerable border incursions using its army trained combatants.
India’s position clearly is that it cannot concede J&K as a part of Pakistan, as an independent nation, or even a relatively more autonomous state within India. Pakistan has become a state with a powerful Islamic fundamentalist influence, and has many terrorist outfits active in the country and aimed at India. Kashmir is Pakistan’s ‘core issue’, and is the raison d’ętre for the large and well-funded Pakistan army and its power.
Despite the geographical closeness, official trade is small (between 1 and 2 billion dollars) but unofficial trade (in liquor, films, music, ready-mades, saris etc), at over $2 billion is fast growing. China (Pakistan’s all time ‘true’ friend) has large economic investment and military interests in Pakistan. As a democracy we must reconsider the logic of ruling Kashmir with help from an occupying army. We must give Kashmiris the autonomy they want and so defuse the tension in Kashmir, and to a lesser extent with Pakistan.
Nepal is the only Hindu kingdom (now a republic), with strong cultural affinities to India. But it looks with suspicion and fear at India. Large hydroelectric exports from Nepal are possible but they have not happened. The relations are soured by the interference of India in Nepal’s domestic politics. As we are now doing in Africa, we must mount a massive aid programme in Nepal to earn goodwill, and keep away from Nepal politics.
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Sri Lanka-India relations which were close have been bedeviled by Tamil insurgency supported briefly by India and subsequently resulting in the assassination of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi by Sri Lankan Tamils. The defeat of the LTTE and the massacre of many thousands of innocent Tamil civilians have resulted in strained relations. China plays a growing role in Sr Lanka. The Rajapaksha family rules Sri Lanka and no amount of accusations of Tamil massacre will restore friendly relations. We must, as the government is doing, adopt a low profile on the Tamil killings, aid the Tamil population to rehabilitate itself, and develop strong trade and investment ties with Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh resulted from the genocide and rape of East Bengalis by the occupying Pakistani army. The ‘mukti bahini’ were later supported with arms, training and by the Indian army, after over 20 million East Bengali refugees flocked into India. But Islamic fundamentalism also entered Bangladesh and has under different political regimes, been hostile to India. Economic, educational, intellectual, trade and investment ties are the possible binding force for us. We have to wait out the political demise of Begum Zia and perhaps offer discreet political advice to Begum Hasina so that she can stay in power.
Myanmar has been another uncooperative neighbour with the ruling generals closely allied to China. India for years adopted a moralistic attitude to the generals and it is only recently that we have allowed our self-interest to dictate our relations. Again, trade and investment are the answer to better relations.
China and India have yet to resolve border disputes. Our unconditional recognition of Chinese suzerainty over Tibet must give way to a more ambivalent stance. China’s encirclement policy towards India, using Pakistan as its primary tool needs counterbalancing by a similar encirclement strategy towards China, with strengthening of our armed forces’ capabilities. However, trade between the two is growing rapidly. ‘Intimate hostility’ is the best policy for us towards China.
India enjoys the best of relations with the Arab kingdoms and Egypt, Syria, etc. Africa is another area where closeness will grow with the new aid policies. It has taken long but India seems to be learning to deal with its neighbours. Paying more attention to them is necessary.
