On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
India’s continuous bullying of Nepal reflects the Indian ill-intention towards Nepal. India is seen as reluctant in resolving the border dispute between the two countries. Just recently, Jana Aastha vernacular weekly had reported that when the then foreign minister of Nepal, during his visit to India, had tried to put the issues related to the border dispute with India, the Indian officials bluntly declined to discuss the border issue saying that there was another bilateral mechanism to discuss on the border dispute. Moreover, the Indians are avoiding holding the meeting of the said bilateral mechanism for years, said the weekly.
The Indians don’t want to return the Nepali territories including Kalapani and a major portion of land in Susta occupied by them. Also, the Indians are trying to encroach more Nepali soil in different parts of the country by taking benefit of a weak presence of the Nepali border security force and the weak stance taken by the political leaders and bureaucrats on resolving the border issue permanently. It seems Nepal will not be able to take back the India encroached territories. Moreover, Nepal is always under the threat of Indian occupation.
Nepal has adopted the political system developed by the Indo-West powers. The 12-point Delhi agreement was endorsed in the process of weakening all the government organs by inviting conflict in the society. The economy is the engine to run the country. Destroying the economy is one of the covert agendas of the Delhi agreement. By introducing such an expensive political system, Nepal can never become a self-reliant economy. Look at the economic scenario! Foreign debt is continuously inclining, the trade deficit is continuously inclining. The political leaders acting under the Indo-west direction are destroying the Nepali economy by introducing wrong policies. The economy, which was towards a positive course until 1990 has been ruined. Many industries substituting imports have been closed down and youths are compelled to go abroad for dirty jobs. Nepal, an agricultural country, for the last three decades, has become a country of importing agricultural products. Economic analysts have already warned that these are the failed nation syndromes and if not corrected the mistakes timely, surely, the country will become a failed nation.
Reducing non-productive expenditure, increasing development expenditure, encouraging investors for establishing import-substituting industries, introducing scientific agricultural technology, among others, should have been the priority of the government. But those who are in the government, have no time to think and to act about the serious state of the nation.
There left major three options for developing a survival strategy. Firstly, make the economy vibrant, secondly, declare Nepal a zone of peace or empower military strength.
As Nepal is a landlocked country, first of all, Nepal should become self-reliant in more and more goods that can be produced or manufactured within the country. Nepal must invest in hydropower projects to substitute the import of petroleum products. Rather than thinking about exporting electricity, Nepal should give priority to supplying electricity to the local industries. Nepal should think about maximum use of water from irrigation to drinking purposes.
King Birendra in February 1975, amidst his coronation ceremony, viewing a threat over Nepal’s sovereignty and independence, had announced the Zone of Peace proposal. This proposal was solely guided by protecting Nepal from any foreign annexation. The move was taken at a time when Sikkim, an independent Himalayan Kingdom was annexed by India ruled by Indira Gandhi. Gandhi encouraged from successful annexation of Sikkim, had instructed the then RAW chief to split Tarai districts from Nepal. Gandhi’s political downfall in India saved Nepal from a split.
In 1990, the multiparty democracy introduced under the Indian sponsorship deleted the clause in the constitution for a ZoP, which was recognized by above 116 nations. Those, who were involved in writing the 1990 constitution have not given any justification or clarification for deleting the JoP clause from the constitution. Still today, in the context of Indian bullying, the ZoP proposal is significant.
If Nepal fails to declare a ZoP, then, the last alternative felt for her survival is the empowerment of her military force to counter Indian bullying.
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