National/Regional/International:

By N. P. Upadhyaya (Aryal) Kathmandu: Indian media sources are on record to have made it known to the world that “Modi and Sri Lankan President Gotabaya worked out a deal that was non-transparent and illegal which allowed Gautam Adani not to have to go through a competitive bidding process”. The Indian media, the NDTV reports that “Modi and Gotabaya worked out a deal that is non-transparent and illegal so that Adani did not have to go through a competitive bidding process,” said Nuzly Hameem, a procurement engineer working with a major construction company which handled a project for the construction of a wind energy farm in Mannar. He is a member of the civil society group People’s Power, which coordinated the demonstration. Sri Lankan Parliament even passed a bill to ease Gautam Adani to capture the energy contract which means how much “penetration” has PM Modi in the Sri Lankan Parliament. This speaks that Modi has already penetrated the Sri Lankan energy sector. PM Modi is the one who has terrified the entire Muslim world more so the Muslims in India who were in the minority. Very recently, two Bharatiya Janta Party functionaries (BJP) Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal passed derogatory remarks on the Prophet which, better late than never, invited wrath from the entire Muslim countries house in the 57-member block of the Organization of the Islamic cooperation. The disparaging remarks on the Prophet came on the heels of the continued onslaught on the structures built-in by the family of the Moghuls (the descendants of Zaheeruddin Babar from Farghana, Uzbekistan now) alleging that these constructions were brought into existence by demolishing the previous Hindu temples by the Mughals, to what the Hindus claim, as invaders who ruled the former Aryavarta for several centuries. Back to the point: After the direct intervention in the exclusive internal matters of Sri Lanka, for example on wind energy, India prefers now to repair the damage done already in Sri Lanka by sending some known Indian Viceroys in the name of extending humanitarian support to the almost bankrupt Island nation. The idea is to permanently kick China out of Sri Lanka by pumping some financial assistance to a nation that has been looted and squeezed by the high-flying Sri Lankan parliamentarians and the men controlling the “economy” of Sri Lanka. India to chase China out from Sri Lanka, is being visibly assisted by the entire developed West, the G-7 nations and more so the QUAD that houses the United States, Australia, Japan and South Asia’s regional menace-India born 1947. In the great game of seducing the torn Sri Lanka - the country that had for three decades braved India-sponsored Tamil Tigers terrorism - India only the last week sent its most dangerous diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra (the current foreign secretary) to Sri Lanka with some “sweets” to win the hearts of the Sri Lankan political animals who more often than not seek Indian interventions in the Island country for reasons known. Late J. N. Dixit in his voluminous book “My South Block Years” is on record to have said that “there is no free lunch in Indian diplomacy” and thus what could have been the inner motive of the regional expansionist in assisting the Sri Lankan at this horrible time is anybody's guess. India’s approach to Sri Lanka this time is guided clearly by two motives: to keep Sri Lankan politics in its control thereby pressing Sri Lanka hard to keep China at a comfortable distance as desired by India and the QUAD; and to eye on the politics of the countries that are in the vicinity, the Maldives included. The Maldives has an India “comfortable” government led by an Indo-pendent President Solih. And this tact has worked doubly for the rogue Indian establishment. To add, the ongoing session of the G-7 (Group of Seven developed countries) held in Germany too has added strength to the scheme which aims at challenging/weakening the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China across the world. India is in these groups only to weaken China which had very badly been defeated during the 1962 war. The G-7 leaders who met in Bavaria, Germany, “have detailed plans to mobilize $ 600 billion in funding for the developing world in a move seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), reports BBC world service dated June 27, 2022. In distancing China, the G-7 leaders were in a way encouraging India to acquire a “determining police role” in charting the fate of the smaller South Asian nations. The hegemon is made more atrocious. To recall, among the G-7 leaders, France and Italy are the two countries which have signed up for China’s Belt and Road Initiative which is puzzling for the entire world. Though the people in South Asia need Chinese presence in the entire region to balance the continued hegemony of the regional hooligan India but yet China has lost its credible image in the region of late. In Nepal, China is being taken as the most untrustworthy partner and perhaps the Sri Lankan too think the same of China. China abandons the country or countries that need China most at times of crisis, for example, China is absent in Colombo at the time of this unprecedented economic crisis. Nepal has already experienced the Chinese cheating and deceit at times of the Monarchy’s ouster which was a designed act of enemy neighbor India. As the luck would have it, the Indian regime first created political/economic upheaval in Sri Lanka and when the all-powerful Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa went suddenly missing and saved his life in the process, the Indian regime used and overused this “golden” opportunity to install its preferred India-bend Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo to fulfil its well-calculated ambitions with clear ill motives and that being keeping Sri Lankan politics under its complete control and distancing China as per the wishes of India. Indian motives are, however, not a guarded secret for the international relations experts in South Asia and beyond. Firstly, India made Mahinda Rajpaksha panic to the extent that he went into hibernation and saved his precious life which was nothing but India’s preplanned penalty for Mahinda who in the year 2009, uprooted the LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers) menace - the brainchild of the Indian government with the active support of China and Pakistan. Mahinda’s missing from Colombo after his house was set ablaze could in many more ways than one be taken as an act of Indian machination. India “manufactures” problems and then enters the problem-ridden country in the name of arbitration,” says Dr Manzoor Naazer, an international relations expert in Pakistan. The 12-point Delhi agreement which exported the Indian brainchild, the Nepal Maoists, to Kathmandu was the handiwork of RAW machinations through the all-time India man-late Girija Prasad Koirala. (Rest in peace). The agreement signed willingly in Delhi by seven Nepali leaders does tell how deep penetration Delhi is upon Nepal’s internal politics. Some even say that the current day leaders in Nepal were all “RAW” installed men who work day in and day out for the “merger” of Nepal into the Indian Union much the same way Sikkim’s traitor Lendhup Dorje contributed to the dissolution of an independent and sovereign Sikkim in the mid-seventies. The calculated ouster of the Nepali monarchy is a part of the scheme of the Sikkimisation of Nepal. It is here that China too appears to have sided with its arch-rival India. To recall, King Gyanendra’s ouster from the Crown had China’s hand as well as would be evident that after India sponsored change of 2005/6, the new Chinese Ambassador presented his credentials to India elevated Prime Minister G. P. Koirala and that too at a time when the Nepali monarchy was only defunct. The now-ousted King, to recall, was the one who had strongly lobbied for China’s inclusion in the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the Dhaka Summit which annoyed Sonia’s assistant Dr. MM Singh and the latter began designing schemes to bring down King Gyanendra through the support of India’s lap-dogs in Kathmandu. China ignored the King when the King needed China most. However, the manner China is being mocked in Nepal in these recent months must have forced China to regret its deceptive role in Nepal during the political change of 2005/6. China is alone in Kathmandu surrounded by RAW-recruited media men who have a direct approach to mini Beijing in Kathmandu. The consequences are clear. Now back to the main story:  The emissary of the regional hegemon India landed in Colombo with yet another deceptive financial package in the name of “providing humanitarian assistance” to the economically broke Island nation. This assistance from India will in effect rob the receiving country in many more ways than one which will begin unfolding in the months and years ahead. As is the experience, India must have reminded the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya and the Indo-pendent Prime Minister Ranil to “listen to the voices of the Tamils living in Sri Lanka”. In fact, India is coercing the Sri Lankans through the Tamils who have already destabilized the entire Island nation for over three decades as stated in earlier paragraphs. The present financial assistance to Colombo from the Indian foreign secretary Kwatra will be a ‘death trap’ for Colombo in the approaching days and months. Al Jazeera, June 23, reports Indian foreign secretary Kwatra says New Delhi will support the crisis-hit Island nation beyond the promised $ 4 billion in loans, swaps and aid. ´The neighbors were also in talks for additional support including a 500 m credit line for fuel and help to import fertilizer and rice as Sri Lanka attempts to stave off a food crisis”, Al Jazeera adds. “The more aid from Delhi, the more added coercion from Delhi to Colombo” opine Nepali observers who know India better. The collapse of the Economy announced: While writing this story, the Sri Lankan Parliament has cancelled its remaining sittings for the week to save fuel. PM Ranil told the Parliament that the nation’s economy has collapsed and it faces a “far more serious situation “in the days ahead. It is this crisis that will in all likelihood be cashed in by the notorious foreign policy hawks seated in South Block, New Delhi. Nepali observers hope that Delhi will for sure intimidate Colombo during the period of the ongoing crisis. The installation of Ranil as Sri Lankan PM was for this coercion purpose. The Pakistani factor: A cash-strapped regional power Pakistan could have helped its intimate friend Sri Lanka, however, Pakistan itself is swimming in the deep blue ocean and so the Pakistani help to Sri Lanka appears a distant affair. The opportunity has gone in favor of India and Pakistan is the loser in the regional game for understandable political reasons. In the meanwhile, the former finance minister of Pakistan Shaukat Tarin has termed the freshly tabled Federal Budget 2022-23 as ‘anti-people’ and ‘bloody’, warning that Pakistan could face a Sri Lanka-like crisis if elections are not announced immediately. He made these warnings while addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club, on June 25, and urged the incumbent government to stop ‘telling lies’ about the economy, pointing out that PTI’s tenure witnessed “record growth” in all sectors, reports Pakistan Today. Tarin, the former minister, said that if the PTI was still in power, they would have approached Russia for cheaper oil and would have provided relief on petrol and diesel. All put together, bad days are yet to come for Sri Lanka. New Delhi will prevail in Colombo henceforth. That’s all.