On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
Due to the wrong handling of foreign policy, the loyalty of our political leaders towards foreign powers and the attitude of our leaders toward pleasing foreign powers to retain power, Nepal has converted into the playground of foreign powers, which has been witnessed in the presidential election race in the country.
The President’s post is just ceremonial but when the executive chef will commit a constitutional error, the President can also use his/her prerogative. Also, until now, we have seen two presidents and both have exercised executive power. Therefore, the attraction for the President’s post has increased enormously for Nepali politicians as well as for foreign powers.
Simply, Indians want an Indian comfortable President for endorsing many key decisions in the Indian interests, including the citizenship amendment law. Americans want the smooth implementation of the MCC and endorsement of the SPP. Some European countries want to increase the Christian community in Nepal and push Nepal towards civil war by provoking different ethnic communities. They want the executive chief and also the head of the nation both friendly towards them. In this regard, we saw foreign diplomats becoming active in the present election race for the presidential post. To a surprise, we saw the visit of three senior American diplomats expressing commitment to more and more grant support for Nepal. We saw the visit of the Indian foreign secretary. Within his two-day stay, he met above one dozen senior Nepali leaders, including former and sitting prime ministers. The Indian foreign secretary paid a courtesy call to the Prime Minister and the same evening, he held a private meeting with the PM again. If the Nepali foreign secretary visits India, he will be unable to meet even his counterpart unnecessarily, forget about his meetings with the high-ranking political leaders. The Indian foreign secretary received high-profile treatment from the Nepali high-ranking leaders as the latter are not conscious of the diplomatic protocol. UML MP Ragujee Pant and Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party’s MP Prem Suwal raised this issue in Parliament but it also didn’t take the issue seriously.
We can assume, when the West and South have made Nepal their playground, China will not remain silent. Surely, China will also come to demonstrate its strength in Nepal as it is strategically a crucial place from the Chinese security point of view.
Not to forget, when the Americans and NATO countries provoked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for taking NATO membership, Russia was compelled to military intervention for safeguarding Russian strategic and security concerns. The war between Russia and Ukraine has already completed one year and hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in this prolonged war. If Zelenskyy had played a responsible role and developed cordial relations with Russia, he could save hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and avoided the war.
All are aware that the American economy is based on war. If there will be no war in any corner of the world, the American economy would have already crashed. The Americans launched a war on Iraq blaming the latter had developed arms of mass destruction. The West-dominated media created propaganda about such arms, which has not been recovered even after the end of the war. Iran and Afghanistan are the next targets for the war-friendly Americans.
In the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, the Americans didn’t come to rescue the Ukrainian people, except by supplying arms, which are not free of cost. Until now, Russia and European countries and America are using those arms developed during World War II as they were to be disposed of or replaced with more sophisticated arms. The war may become more critical and complicated if Russia and the Western countries use more sophisticated weapons.
How irresponsible leadership destroy a beautiful country, the Ukrainian leadership is an example. Whether Nepali leadership is also trying to become the new Zelenskyy by violating the country’s foreign policy guidelines, is a burning question of the day.
Login to add a comment