BY SHASHI MALLA
South Asia Watch
Nepal: India’s Cartographical Aggression Continues
Kalapani:
Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has taken on a nationalistic tone with regard to India claiming and occupying parts of Nepalese territory in the far west, including Kalapani, Limpiyadhara and LipuLekh.
Addressing a convention of the National Youth Association, the sister wing of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), Oli said vigorously: “This patriotic government won’t let anyone take even an inch of Nepali land. The neighbouring country should withdraw its troops from our land.” He also added that Nepal will neither encroach upon the neighbour’s land nor tolerate encroachment of its territories.” However, Oli left out a key element. He wasn’t willing to name India as the aggressor!
The Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba had previously made the sensational demand on Indian ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri to return Kalapani back to Nepal. Now he added insult to injury by saying that “the pseudo-nationalist communist government was incapable of raising the issue with India, let alone taking back the encroached land.”
Sandakphu/Ilam
Even in the East, India is attempting strange and nefarious tactics to encroach upon Nepalese territory. Indian security personnel have been actively obstructing the construction of infrastructure in Sandakpur(Sandakphu), Ilam claiming that it could not be allowed on ‘no man’s land’. However, it seems that Indian security personnel – the SashastraSeema Bal (SSB) can be stationed there. The number of SSB personnel has also increased substantially. The Nepal government is too cowardly to station the Nepal Army in the area to protect Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Lately, the SSB has even forcibly blocked the tourist route to the famous viewpoint in Sandakphu, from where mountain peaks in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan can be viewed in all their glory. The obstruction even took the form of physical threat – pointing a gun at an innocent tourist! The government must act, and fast!
Unfortunately, there has been little movement on the political and diplomatic front (Kathmandu Post, November 19, 2019). Dr. Bekh Bahadur Thapa, former minister and ambassador and a member of the Eminent Persons’ Group on Nepal-India relations, hit the nail on the head when he said that Nepal needs to pile pressure on India from all sides. Very much to the point, he highlighted: In the past, whenever we showed evidence, the Indian side never denied it, but we were never successful in getting our land back. India remains silent and continues to stonewall us.”[!]
The Oli-Dahal leadership with their Communist comrades are just dithering and spitting in the eyes of the Nepalese people, and attempting to prove the one-and-only, great Abraham Lincoln wrong:
“You may fool all the people some of the time; You can even fool some of the people all the time; But you can’t fool all of the people all the time.”
Sri Lanka: Presidential Elections
In a fiercely fought presidential election last Sunday, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former defence minister during the nation’s Tamil separatist civil war had taken an early lead. Rajapaksa, the main opposition candidate, was leading with 52.87 percent, while the government housing minister SajithPremadasa had 39.67 percent out of half a million votes counted, according to the Election Commission. Leftist Anura Kumara Dissanayake was in third place with 4.69 percent. There were 32 other candidates for the top job (AFP/Agence France Press).
The Election Commission has now announced that Rajapaksa has now won the election outright, garnering 52.25 percent of the votes, while Premadasa got 41.99 percent, giving Rajapaksa a far bigger lead than predicted by politicians and analysts.
Election Chairman Mahinda Deshapriyasaid at least 80 percent of the 16 million eligible voters participated in Sunday’s poll, which was marred by isolated violence that left several people injured. In total, seven violent incidents had been reported from across the country which included shooting and stabbing while 248 minor violations such as threats and intimidation had been reported. However, these numbers were far less than the previous elections (Xinhua).
Weeks of campaigning largely focused on national security issues and religious extremism in the backdrop of the deadly Islamic State-inspired suicide bomb attacks last Easter Sunday. The government – both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe [from different political parties] – had faced severe criticism for failing to prevent the brutal attacks despite ample prior warnings [also from Indian intelligence].
Rajapaksa, 70, lead in the island’s majority Sinhalese areas while Premadasa showed strong support from the island’s minority Tamil ethnic community in the northern and eastern regions.
Premadasa, 52, from the liberal United National Party (UNP), is the son of President RanasinghePremadasa, assassinated by Tamil rebels. PM Wickremesinghe had stepped aside, allowing his deputy Premadasa to enter the contest and face Rajapaksa, the younger brother of former strongman president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Gotabaya is credited with directing security forces to crush Tamil insurgents in the north of the country and ending a 37-year separatist war in May 2009 during the tenure of elder brother Mahinda, who was president from 2005 to 2015. The supply of Chinese arms and ammunition was crucial in the effort.
China has invested billions of dollars building ports, expressways and power stations in the strategic Indian Ocean island nation. However, these substantial infrastructure projects have also led to high debt levels for Sri Lanka. The country is currently under a US Dollar 1.5 billion, four-year IMF loan programme. In any case, the country’s pivot towards China is a given.
Although, Rajapaksa swept to election victory, tapping into the anger and fears of the majority Singhalese community, he struck a conciliatory note, promising to be leader of all Sri Lankans, regardless of their ethnic and religious identities: “As we usher in a new journey for Sri Lanka, we must remember that all Sri Lankans are part of this journey. Let us rejoice peacefully, with dignity and discipline in the same manner in which we campaigned.” (Reuters):
Region West Asia
Deadly Protests in Iran over Fuel Price Hike
Demonstrations and protests broke out in a dozen Iranian cities and the capital Tehran last Friday night after the clerical government’s surprise decision to ration fuel and raise prices by 50 percent, leading to long queues at gas pumps. President Hassan Rouhani argued the move was for the good of the people!
In central Iran, the acting governor said people had exploited the ‘calm’ and destroyed public property and damaged fuel stations. Protesters had also gathered in a dozen other cities and blocked traffic. Protests had ended by midnight, but picked up again on Saturday.
At Iran’s behest, neighbouring Iraq closed its eastern border to travelers on Saturday due to protests taking place simultaneously in both countries. The border will stay open for trade but remain closed to travelers until further notice. Security forces have used live rounds and tear gas to disperse protesters in Baghdad. More than 300 people have died since protests began last month.
Rouhani told advisers that the move was intended to put money in citizen’s pockets and that the government has earmarked all funds to be used on subsidies for poor families. This will be little consolation for ordinary people. The economy has suffered enormously under US-imposed sanctions in place since 2018. Fuel in Iran was heavily subsidized until now. Inflation is at 40 percent and the economy is expected to contract 9 percent this year.
Iran’s president has lately described a massive discovery of a new oil field with 50 billion barrels of crude in the oil-rich Khuzestan province. But continuing sanctions against Iranian oil could make it very difficult for the oil to find its way to international markets.
For ordinary people to benefit, the power centres in Iran must first bring their chaotic domestic house in order and pacify their external relations.
For example, Iran is applying salami tactics in breaking away from its international nuclear pact by restarting uranium enrichment at its Fordo facility. The European signatories have urged Iran to honour itsobligations, although they have done little to shield Iran from Trump the Don’s depredation.
Turmoil in the Islamic World
In the meantime, the leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has lamented that the cause of the current problems facing the Islamic world is a result of weakness of unity among Muslim countries. He was addressing the envoys and participants of the 33rd Islamic Unity Conference in Tehren (Iran Daily).
This must have sounded strange to the audience, considering Iran’s divisive policy in the greater Middle East, sowing conflict and discord in a wide range of countries, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Iran’s attempt to become the dominant regional power has brought it into confrontation with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Its long term policy of obliterating the Jewish state of Israel –which cultivates cordial relations with many Muslim countries, including Jordan and Egypt – is not in tune with the principle of the peaceful resolution of conflict and religious tolerance – supposedly a basic tenet of Islam.
United States: Trump the Don Gets Nervous about Impeachment
Day by day, it is becoming more and more clear that the President of the United States (POTUS), Donald Trump has sacrificed vital US national security interests in Ukraine on the altar of furthering his own narrow, personal interests. According to the US Constitution, this is an impeachable offence, i.e. he can be charged/accused/prosecuted by the US House of Representatives for “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
In spite of overwhelming proof that he is guilty, Congress Republicans and the majority of Republican supporters still stand by him – the perpetual liar, conman, tax dodger, “the Don” of an utterly corrupt organization!
Unwittingly, Trump the Don has made the Latin phrase “quid pro quo” — ‘something for something’ famous. In its modern connotation, it has the sense of ‘one favour or advantage given in exchange for another.’ And ‘the Don’ has been caught red-handed offering/dangling newly-elected Ukraine President US security aid [nearly US Dollar 400 million, which Congress had alreadyapproved and Trump had illegally withheld] and a coveted visit to the White House [which would have cemented his domestic support and shored up international prestige] in return for digging up dirt on Joe Biden, his domestic presidential rival and former vice president’s son Hunter. Most insidious and treasonous indeed.
Last Friday, ‘the Don’ showed his true colours when he attacked former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch in a tweet while she was still in the middle of her deposition to the House Intelligence Committee in the impeachment enquiry. Afterwards, Democratic Representative Eric Swalwellcommented: “It’s evidence of more obstruction [of justice]: intimidating, tampering with the witness’s testimony.”
The Don, of course, thinks:
“ I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea
I am lord of the foul and the brute.”
(Alexander Selkirk, 1782)
Trump also believes that he is the undisputed ruler/strongman of the most powerful country in the world, and his powers unfettered. Thus, he is “the ‘king’ that can do no wrong”:
“That the king can do no wrong, is a necessary and fundamental principle
of the English constitution.”
(William Blackstone, 1723-80, English jurist)
In the modern context, the British monarch can do no wrong, because she/he is no longer the sovereign authority [parliament is]. The prime minister is the undisputed leader of parliament. In the United States, the president is only one of the three co-equal parts of the government and shares power with the legislature and judiciary. He is definitely not above the law!
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
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