By Rabi Raj Thapa
Current border issues with India and China have once again strained Nepal’s cordial relationship with India. Nonetheless, it is encouraging that the Government of Nepal has openly presented its clear stance on one issue, i.e., India-China direct trade and the pilgrimage route to Kailash-Mansarovar via Lipulekh, over which Nepal has had a claim for the past 200 years. In this regard, there are many documents and testimonials that support what the present Balen government has communicated to the concerned parties through polite and diplomatic notes.
Besides Kailash-Mansarovar, this is also the right time to settle many other possible bilateral issues between Nepal and India amicably. For a long time, trade between the two countries has been more or less asymmetric, and transit rights have often been conditional. The problem with the old parties and their leaders has been their excessive leanings and hangovers toward external players, whether India, the US, China, or others. Their shady dealings and political ideologies excessively appeased foreign pressure, influence, and dictation for decades.
However, the young Prime Minister of the new almost two-thirds majority party does not appear to carry those same hangovers and may be able to make a fresh start. Prime Minister Balen Shah has not emerged from the old party politics of horse-trading and is assumed to be far removed from foreign-backed feudal political dynasties based on imported ideological movements. He has, in fact, emerged from the streets and led the people against a political class accused of looting the country while appeasing foreign influence and pressure over the last three decades.
Nepal sits at the confluence of the two largest civilizational and economic forces, namely India and China. Today, Nepal neither has nor desires any conflict or dispute with any of its neighboring countries. Nepal has always embraced the great Sanatani (Omkar) and Vedic philosophical wisdom of sages and has followed the Eightfold Path and the teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha, the Enlightened One.
Besides this, late King Birendra proposed that Nepal be declared a Zone of Peace during his coronation in 1975. Had that proposal succeeded, it could have helped India, China, and Western countries view Nepal not as a platform to serve their geopolitical interests.
In this modern era of science and technology—an age of drones and missiles—national borders are no longer limited to just a few kilometers or the no-man’s land along frontiers.
Therefore, it would be advisable for Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Balen Shah, to formally revive the same Zone of Peace proposal to honor the peace-loving late King Birendra, as well as global ambassadors of non-violence and peace such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. If Balen Shah succeeds in getting Nepal formally and internationally recognized as a Zone of Peace, it would not only serve Nepal but also greatly benefit its immediate neighbors. Nepal could then also table the same proposal at the United Nations as part of a policy strategy of peace and principled neutrality.
Besides this, Nepal is currently being drawn into an issue of potentially dangerous proportions. It is widely understood that a nation controlling uranium supply chains holds extraordinary geopolitical weight. Coincidentally, Nepal is potentially sitting on one of the most significant untapped reserves of nuclear materials—uranium and thorium—across its northern Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions.
As Nepal is currently in no position to extract and utilize these resources for commercial purposes, this could potentially become a strategic contest among major powers, particularly the USA, China, and India, in the near future. Therefore, to control, protect, and regulate these sensitive natural resources, Nepal urgently needs to develop a national policy, preferably a national strategic doctrine, as soon as possible.
For this purpose, Nepal could seek support and technical assistance from international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency rather than arbitrarily tying up with any national company or agency. Only then can Nepal better protect itself from international rivalry and unhealthy geopolitical tug-of-war among major and superpowers.
It is a positive sign that the Balen Shah government is showing bold and independent foreign policy gestures. Let us support these efforts, hope for the best, and wish that the current row over Mansarovar and any uranium extraction deals does not badly destabilize the government.
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