Nepal-India Relations: Issues And Prospects – II

Yuba Nath Lamsal
It is also time for us Nepalese to do some serious soul searching and see if we, too, are responsible for the not to well relations with India. It is also time to assess in a frank and serious manner how, where and why we failed. We can arrive at the right conclusion only if we sincerely make an assessment on our historical strengths, weaknesses, mistakes, setbacks and failures.
We sometimes tend to suffer from an ‘inferior complex’, and this syndrome is often responsible for our lackluster performance in dealing with India. Now we have to come out of this, and frankly and strongly put forth our position. If we do not agree on any issue we should politely tell them ‘we are sorry’.
Serious homework, special skills and knowledge, language fluency and augmenting power are required to enhance our negotiating strength. This can be achieved through a set of tasks. Nepal thus, needs to take some points into serious consideration to deal with India on various issues.
Country specific policy
First, Nepal has to come up with a country specific policy. Nepal so far has no specific India policy. As a result, no serious homework has been done on what our national interests vis-à-vis India are, what the issues with India are and what our bottom-line on each of these issues should be. Second, areas in which our mutual interests converge and in which our interests clash should be identified. This will help settle the issues and areas where our mutual interests clash, and enlarge and expand cooperation in areas where our mutual interests converge.
Third, Nepal has to practically ensure through action that the security sensitivity of both our neighbours are well addressed, leaving no room for India and China to be apprehensive of their security. There has to be no attempt, whatsoever, to jeopardise the security and other interests of its neighbours from Nepal’s soil nor should there be any attempt from any quarter to pit one country against the other.
Fourth, Nepal needs to immediately form a task force comprising representatives of the key political parties, experts in various fields including security, foreign policy, border, water resources and international laws to suggest alternatives to each and every provision of the 1950 Treaty that are not in the interest of Nepal and also make alternative arrangements to all other previous agreements and deals signed between the two countries. This will help strengthen Nepal’s position on the negotiating table with India.
Fifth, Nepal has to be firmly consistent on its foreign policy, and there should not be any kind of vacillation both in principle and action. In principle, Nepal is consistent in its foreign policy of non-alignment and equal friendship with all countries of the world. But in practice, the political parties tend to have their own agendas and priorities in dealing with countries, mainly with our two neighbours.
Our past experience has shown that unnecessarily pleasing one at the expense of another neighbour has cost us heavily. Thus, we need to have equal friendship with our two immediate neighbours and try to seek maximum cooperation from both of them. We cannot afford to play cards against one or the other but to act as a genuine bridge between our two giant neighbours. This will help foster trilateral cooperation and partnership in areas where interests converge.
Sixth, our experience over the last one decade has shown that India depended heavily on the bureaucracy when it came to dealing with Nepal, which is primarily responsible for the creation of an atmosphere of apprehension between the two countries on various issues. Nepal, too, did not try to negotiate or deal at the political level with India. We have historical evidences that whenever issues were handled at the political level, Nepal-India relations were relatively more at ease. And when India solely depended upon the bureaucracy to deal with Nepal, bilateral relations between these two countries got complicated. Thus, it would be in the interest of both the counties if they dealt with and negotiated all issues at the political level.
Seventh, it seems that foreign policy was never a priority of the governments of Nepal in the last one decade or so. Nepal’s foreign policy has been weak and ineffective in this period. The political parties tried to hold the portfolio of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only so that they could award their loyalists and cadres with diplomatic appointments rather than formulating and conducting foreign policy and protecting Nepal’s national interests abroad.
India is a very important country for us, and we have a host of issues with that country. But Nepal seems to have paid little priority to it as we have not been able to appoint an ambassador there for almost three years. Thus, Nepal must appoint an ambassador to India at the earliest. But the basis of selection of the ambassador should not be nepotism or loyalty to the party or person in power but ability to comprehend the situation, understand the issues and handle bilateral relations in a more competent manner.
Eight, the most important thing is unity and consensus among ourselves. If we are united and pursue all issues with India based on national consensus, it will definitely strengthen our position and negotiating power on the table, which would help protect our national interest.
So far, different parties have had different perceptions and positions on different issues, which have weakened our negotiating position. India knows this well and has been taking advantage from our diverse positions on different issues. Thus, we first need to keep our house in order and build a broader national consensus on our bottom-line approach on each and every issue where we have a stake with India.
Connectivity and cooperation
In conclusion, Naredra Modi’s visit has created an atmosphere of trust, which should be utilised for enhancing the mutual interest of both Nepal and India. Nepal and India are close neighbours, and we have to live as such as we cannot change the geography. Our destiny is tied with one another, and our future depends upon how closely and collaboratively we work and cooperate. In today’s globalised and inter-connected world, we cannot survive in isolation. Connectivity and cooperation are new buzz words for international cooperation and relations.
Indian Prime Minister Modi, too, hinted at this new scenario by saying that the future of Nepal-India relations would depend upon how effectively these two nations can cooperate on ‘HIT’ (hydro-power, information technology and transmission). Modi has identified the issues and prescribed his solution. Now Nepal needs to wake up from its long slumber, especially on the foreign policy front, with new ideas, new logic and new propositions to deal with India to protect Nepal’s national interest and work for the mutual benefit of both the countries.