INDIA IN WORLD AFFAIRS

India, Russia and China are the three most populated countries
of the world, and three powerful nuclear powers. Russia with its 5000
to 7000 nuclear warheads is on par with the USA in nuclear
supremacy; China and Russia are sound economy powers.

There are attempts by these Asian powers to form a regional axis

to counterpoise the world supremacy of the United States of America.
However, the ambitions of China to be the sole super power of the
region are retarding the progress in this direction. Also its border
disputes with both India and Russia are other thorns on the path of
progress.

A bipolar world is indeed is in the interest of all including the USA

considering the time proven adage that power corrupts and absolute
power absolutely.

INDIA-BRAZIL-SOUTH AFRICA

India, Brazil and South Africa are considered as countries that

have the same strength and stature in the world and therefore same
interests. Birds of the same feathers flock together. Therefore, it is
natural to expect them to flock together as an axis to safeguard their
common interests in this complex world of competitions and ruthless
manoeuvres. All the three are strong countries in their own right, and if
they join hands, they can transform to be a power centre in world
affairs and face challenges in every sphere to their best interests.
 All three are large populous regional powers, undeveloped
farming countries, potential economic powers and non-aligned in world
politics. While India is the second most populated country in the world
and geographically the seventh largest in the world, Brazil is the
largest grower of coffee and sixth largest country in the world, and
South Africa is the largest producer of diamonds in the world. Thus
each of them needs the support of the other in facing the world.

The proposed axis can lead to balance of power in the world and
bring an end to competitions of a few countries like China, Russia and
the USA for the world hegemony. Such an alliance is sorely needed by
the world to bring balance to the world politics.

BANGLADESH

There were two Pakistani territories on different sides to India

that constituted Pakistan: West Pakistan and East Pakistan. East
Pakistan decided to separate from the union and become an
independent country. It fought for its independence and got
independence with the help of India. East Pakistan then came to be
known as Bangladesh.

India helped the Bangladesh freedom fighters after East Pakistan

refugees poured in to India while Pakistan forces began to suppress
them by force and Pakistan refused to take the refugees back creating
a humanitarian problem to India. A truncated Pakistan saved India
from the need of concentration of active forces against recalcitrant
Pakistan in both western and eastern borders. Bangladesh on its
eastern border certainly is a lesser evil to India than the former East
Pakistan. Present Bangladesh is divided on its relation with India. While
one of the two major political parties of the country is a close ally of
India, the other with connections with the Pakistan military shows signs
of unfriendly attitude towards India.

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. It can

prove to be dangerous to India if it sides with Pakistan in crucial
junctures of political or military sensitivities. Pakistan naturally wants
this to happen and considerably succeeded in its efforts in this
direction. Pakistan militants and ISI operators repeatedly use
Bangladesh these days as safe houses for terrorist activities in India. If
India succeeds in luring the country to its side by right diplomacy,
Bangladesh may prove to be a useful and strategic friend of India.

NEPAL

Nepal is a Himalayan Kingdom and shares border with two Indian

states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The culture of India and Nepal is
similar and enjoy friendly relationship. Nepal is dependant on India for
funds and developmental efforts. India has considerable influence over
Nepal and generously contributes for the poor neighbour’s welfare
activities.

Nepal works as a buffer between India and China. Nepalese

known as Gorkhas are world-renowned as valiant and fearless soldiers
for their do-or die spirit and Indian army has special contingents of
these valiant soldiers from its British vintage.

Both China and Pakistan have also developed interests in Nepal

and try to checkmate India’s influences in the region. Pakistan often
used the common border between Nepal and India to infiltrate
terrorists to India. The rise of Maoists in Nepal is actively supported by
China. The rising influence of China in Nepal is a matter of grave
concern to India.

Nepal on the border of India and China is in deep trouble from

some years. First, the King of Nepal was murdered and a family
member wiped out his whole family. Next surfaced the Maoist violence
that threatened the very existence of the small Himalayan country.
Nepal leaders and army were proved incapable of containing and
crushing the spread of Maoist rebellion and violence. India was found
unequal in their task of helping the Nepal Government in containing
the rapid spread of the Maoist movement and its violence.

Attempts to lure Maoists to the democratic system succeeded

and elections were held. No party succeeded in getting majority while
the Maoists came out with maximum seats won in the election. There
was a long deadlock and ultimately, a Maoist-led coalition came to
power with the primary task of drafting a Constitution for Nepal. The
first thing after coming to power was removing the monarchy and
declaring Nepal as a Republic. Soon, differences developed between
the Maoist Prime Minister and the non-Maoist President and the
differences came open while the Prime Minister removed the army
chief for disobedience and the President as the Supreme Commander
of the Nepal defence forces resisted the move. The rift in the alliance
led to the fall of the Maoist Government and the possible revival of the
Maoist violence again in Nepal. After concerted political moves,
another alliance with the support of non-Maoist left parties formed the
Government while the single largest party namely Maoists remained
outside the Government causing concern about the possibility of the
Maoists reverting to their non-democratic methods of popular uprise
and violence.
 If Maoists return to their largely successful uprise and violence,
there will be breakdown of democracy again in Nepal and situation
may turn worse than before and the country may go down the drain a
la Iraq and Afghanistan though for different reasons. India did try to
bring peace to Nepal by bringing Maoists and the Nepal Congress
together, but miserably failed in the efforts. Nepal is in a sticky wicket
now.

Truth is that Nepal has become a political playground of the

shadow boxing of its southern and northern neighbours namely India
and China with India represented by the Nepal Congress and China by
the Maoists. All the political manoeuvres in Nepal are remote
controlled by these two countries and in the process Nepal and its
people’s interests are completely ignored.

JAPAN

A remark by China that there are rather immense differences

between India and China in their border disputes, that have been the
theme of India-Chinese negotiations and talks for a long time now,
deeply offended India. India and Japan leaders met subsequent to the
Chinese remarks in Japan and most political analysts connected the
sudden interests of these countries with each other to the Chinese
remarks. However, India and Japan both have denied this connection.

India and Japan are close neighbours of China. India’s nuclear

tests had drawn the ire of Japan and it joined other developed
countries in imposing sanctions against India at that time. However,
they have been trying to improve their relationship for quite some time
now. The political situation around the world also has compelled these
two countries to come closer together over the last few years.
American certificate to India that it is a responsible country and its
initiative for nuclear deal with India along with the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) waiver to India in nuclear deals further mellowed Japan.

These two countries can help each other a lot if they want and it
looks as if they certainly want it. Both countries have the strong
umbilical chord of the Buddhist religion and culture. In a meeting that
the external affairs ministers of these two countries had in mid-2009,
they discussed several important issues. Earlier India and Japan along
with the United States of America had a few sessions of naval war
games. This may be some thing to remember in connection with the
recent events concerning Chinese remarks.

PEACE IN SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka had been finally able to throw the yoke of the LTTE
from its back. It led to Sri Lanka being able to run administration
without the dark shadows of the LTTE clouding its decisions and
actions. This is something, which Sri Lanka has to be very happy about.
On May 18 of 2009, the Sri Lankan army killed the LTTE leader,
Verupillai Prabhakaran. Till the end, the LTTE supremo hoped that the
international community would do something in order to save him.
However, what he hoped for did not come true. His death had come
nearly twenty-five years too late for the people of Sri Lanka who had
suffered a lot during the period. Thus, this is now a good time for Sri
Lanka.

However, many countries have not taken kindly to the Sri Lankan
conduct in this war. They condemned the aggressive pursuit of the
LTTE cadres and fighters by the Sri Lankan Army and blamed Sri
Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakshe of human rights violations.
India showed concern regarding resettlement of the displaced Tamil
population of Sri Lanka. International Red Cross did exceptionally good
work during the war in rescuing and tendering civilians caught
between the warring forces. According to eye witnesses who visited
Tamil refugee camps in Sri Lanka, the Government provides for the
refugees better than adequate and that those refugees are looked
after better than Sri Lankan refugees in Indian refugee camps.

Countries mostly from the West see a large number of slip-ups

by the Sri Lankan Government in its approach to the Tamil problem.
They say that the Sri Lankan government should have ensured lesser
mortalities especially of the civilians held by the Tamil Tigers as
protective shield against the onslaught of the Sri Lankan army. It is
easier said than done in a war situation of the nature of the
intermittent wars between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army for more
than three decades that brought all developmental activities of Sri
Lanka to a grinding halt and threatened the very existence of the
nation. They have also condemned the Sri Lankan government for
triumphantly trumpeting its victory. Sri Lanka indeed deserves to be
congratulated for bringing halt to terrorism and bringing peace and
security to the island nation after three decades of civil war.

INDIA AND PAKISTAN

India and Pakistan are neighbours. Pakistan has had a history

similar to that of India. The only factor that stands different between
India and Pakistan is their attitudes to religion. While India is a secular
republic, Pakistan is an Islamic republic. It was because of religion that
Pakistan separated from the united India that existed prior to the
creation of Pakistan in 1947. If Mohammed Ali Jinnah had not insisted
for a different country for Muslims, Pakistan would never have been
carved out of the united India.

However, after the partition, India and Pakistan have become

bitter enemies. Neighbours are usually enemies and it is the same
here. There were many wars fought between India and Pakistan. India
has won all of them. However, now, there are many moves towards
permanent peace between India and Pakistan.

India and Pakistan are in conflict since their independence. They

fought many wars with decisive win for India in all. But, war is war and
a severe drain on the resources of the country apart from the huge
amount of destruction and loss of precious life on both sides. Keeping
soldiers active along borders and providing supplies both strategic and
war related as well as daily needs of the soldiers and officers like food,
clothing and fuel drain the national resources that would have been
better utilised for the betterment of the people otherwise. Further, the
soldiers work in hostile conditions while manning the borders. A huge
army is a priority in the present world for the defence of the country.
But, a huge army means huge expenditure; a bottomless drain to the
exchequer. Each soldier manning the border needs sixty thousand
rupees worth of supplies every month and that amounts to four crores
of rupees for maintaining a brigade for one month. Naturally, all
countries want to avoid this kind of wastages. India and Pakistan are
not exceptions to this. Both countries desire to strike a deal regarding
their border disputes. But, Kashmir continues to be a stumbling block,
and none of them can relent on Kashmir issue for the fear of losing
popular support back in respective countries and the national pride.

Siachin is a glacier between India and Pakistan. It has always

been a point of conflict between these two countries and fought wars
to gain control of that wasteland where not even a grass grows and
climate and conditions unfit for living. Only its strategic position
between the border of India and Pakistan overlooking the strategic
highway conjoining Indian mainland with its northern region of Ladakh
gained it the importance it has now.

Pakistan while carved out of India had two wings - East Pakistan
on the eastern side of India and West Pakistan on the western side of
India. The hegemony of the West Pakistan combined with the neglect
of the East Pakistan by the Federal Government of Pakistan populated
by West Pakistan leaders, military and bureaucracy compelled East
Pakistan to separate from West Pakistan and become an independent
country. India naturally supported this cause for its own reasons. This
ultimately led to another war between India and Pakistan in 1971 with
East Pakistan volunteers for independence as the Bangla Bahini outfit
supporting Indian defence forces. Pakistan on a losing spree appealed
for help from the United States of America, which just that year under
its Secretary of State, Mr. Henry Kissinger, had started the process of
improving and expanding its ties with the China and Pakistan axis even
at the cost of its already lukewarm relations with India. The United
States of America applied tremendous pressure on India, and China
began massive troop movements on Indian borders to deter India from
moving against Pakistan. The unequivocal support of the then Soviet
Union and determined leadership of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the Prime
Minister of India at the time, saved the days for India in the war and
India won the war hands down with Pakistan being truncated with East
Pakistan becoming an independent country as Bangladesh.

Till now in almost all the wars fought by India and Pakistan,
western countries supported Pakistan, as the latter was their ally till
the end of the 20th century. However, in the last war namely the Kargil
War fought between India and Pakistan, the western countries
remained neutral.

Terrorism is some thing that Pakistan has been facing from quite
some time now and it looks as if it will not be able to shake off the
yoke of terrorism. These problems of Pakistan are mainly due to lack of
powerful leadership and splintering of the power structure.

Pakistan is suffering from diverse power centers like

Government, army, ISI, jehadis, extremists, militant religious
organisations and so on, each hostile to the other and pulling in
opposite directions. It is a problem of the lack of unity of command
with which Pakistan suffers after the departure of President Pervez
Musharaff from the Pakistan political scene. Naturally, situation is not
at all as stable as it should be. The talks between India and Pakistan on
improving relationship that made considerable headway during the
period of former Pakistan President, Pervez Musharaff with agreements
on three issues of Kashmir, Siachin and Sir Creek on the final stages of
signature with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached its
nadir after 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008.

Pakistan’s solution to Kashmir revolves around three issues -

demilitarization, self-governance and a joint mechanism.
Demilitarization involves withdrawal of defence forces from Kashmir by
sides, self governance includes self rule of Kashmiri to the maximum
by its people and the joint mechanism involves a mechanism involving
representatives of Pakistan, India and representatives of both parts of
Kashmir to over-see, over-watch and decide on self governance and all
other matters arising regarding Kashmir from time to time. Pakistan
considers the Line of Control or LOC in Kashmir between Pakistan held
and India held regions as disputed issue while India wants to convert it
to a settled permanent border. The response of Pakistan to this Indian
position is to treat the LOC as irrelevant in their discussions to leave
the matter to the future generations to settle.

Terrorism is becoming an increasingly complicated issue to

Pakistan. All the same, the aggressive stance of the Indian leaders and
media against Pakistan like ‘punish Pakistan’ naturally hurts its
sovereign pride and its threat perceptions arising from India gets
sensitized. This is the true reason why Pakistan in spite of the fatal
threat from Taliban and other extremist groups within the country to
the unity and stability of Pakistan as a nation and destabilizing
pressures from USA and the Alliance forces against, considers India as
the first and foremost threat to the security and integrity of Pakistan.
Pakistan strongly believes that India has not yet reconciled to
Pakistan’s existence.

India and Pakistan must try to peacefully resolve their

differences and leave their enmities behind. Any further wars between
these two countries have the potentiality of turning to be a nuclear war
as both are nuclear powers and may lead to mutual destructions.

The worst enemy of Pakistan is not its neighbour, India. Rather, it

is its poverty. Pakistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with
a high birth rate that renders its economy failing to catch up with the
population growth rate. Further, its unfortunate focus against India and
war preparations for the purpose diverted its resources from
development activities. It is only because of the financial and other
backings of the United States of America that Pakistan has not yet
disintegrated in spite of large-scale economic failings and wars against
Al-Qaeda and Taliban along its borders with Afghanistan in support of
the United States of America.
 Kashmir lies at the foot of the tallest mountains in the world, the
Himalayas. The Himalayas came into existence in prehistoric age when
Indian region as part of the African continent moved northeast to
conjoin with the southern edge of the Asian mainland. In the process,
tall sets of mountains due to the force of collision between the huge
landmasses rose upwards as the Himalayan Mountains.

An earthquake hit Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, about 80 kms

north of Islamabad, a few years back causing immense loss of life. The
quake measured 7.6 in the Richter scale and was very devastating. Its
tremors were felt even in regions as far away as places like Karachi
and New Delhi. India and Pakistan joined hands in rescue operations in
Kashmir. This is a noble gesture by both countries. An 86-year-old
Kashmiri said that this earthquake was the most destructive event he
ever saw in his life. There has not been a worse earthquake in Pakistan
since 1935. It was the second most devastating natural disaster in Asia
in a decade after the Tsunami that hit South Asia a few years back.

The Pakistanis have been claiming victories against the Taliban.

However, they have really not been able to do positive things against
the Taliban. The Taliban has not been defeated by the Pakistanis, but
has just gone away and melted. The Pakistanis have however claimed
this to be a big victory. The Pakistan armed forces on the pressure of
the United States of America just rolled into the Taliban occupied
regions of Pakistan without much resistance and that they claim is a
huge victory. However, it is presumed that the Taliban will be able to
gain back these places from where it has been driven out, when the
American pressure subsides or when Pakistan government or army
weakens.
 Taliban will be able to gain back the areas they lost as most of its
fighters just shaved off their beards to camouflage and continue to live
with their families in the area only to raise when the Taliban needs
them again.