National/Regional/International Affairs
“The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them knows anything about the subject.”
-Marcus Aurelius
By N. P. Upadhyaya (Aryal)
Kathmandu: The G20 meet held in New Delhi, September 9-10, 2023, has almost buckled, it is said.
That it was a flop show was reflected when the attending US President Joe Biden whispered among his colleagues about the “ban” imposed on him and to the entire attending G20 leaders who had converged in Islamophobic-BJP-Delhi that “No one participating in the G20 meet shall be allowed to talk to the press/media.”
This Indian ban was also binding on President Joe Biden who finally ventilated his inner mind when he was already on Vietnamese soil upon leaving the G20 meet held in Delhi.
Talking to Vietnamese pressmen, President Biden hinted that he felt somewhat awkward as to why his strategic partner, the host Indian Prime Minister Modi imposed the ban on talking to media men.
The Delhi G20 meet crushed the moment the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met the host PM Modi on the sidelines and told his Indian counterpart that one Indian diplomat posted in Canada’s Indian Embassy was involved in killing a Sikh Canadian national on June 18, 2023.
PM Modi did not have bilateral talks with Canada, as he has had with several countries.
Canada in some way was deliberately ignored by the Indian regime for some mysterious reasons.
India takes Canada as a country which has the highest concentration of Khalistani supporters, and that too, Canada is hand-in-glove in providing shelter to the Khalistan supporters who wish to have a separate land for the Indian Sikhs right inside India.
Canada summarily rejects the Indian accusations.
The talks between the two leaders, Trudeau and MODI, must not have gone well upon reiterating and listening to the bombshell that it was.
If Canada accused India, then the latter rebuked the Canadian assertion.
Beginning the next moment, Canada-India bilateral ties plunged, and that touched its lowest level.
That was not enough.
The Indian leaders, ministers, and the pet Indian media (popularly known to the world as the Godi media) instantly began pouncing upon Canada and airing unfounded accusations upon Justin Trudeau.
Some Indian intellectuals and retired diplomats “kept in reserve” even dared to accuse Justin Trudeau as a drug addict and so on.
Trudeau upon reaching his country, Canada, and making an official speech in the Canadian Parliament, spoke on the findings of the Canadian government’s intelligence report, which claimed that an Indian diplomat posted right in the Indian diplomatic mission was involved in the June 18 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Justin Trudeau said, “Canada had ‘credible evidence’ that India and its intelligentsia were involved in the June killing of Canada-based Pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey”.
This was a typical allegation by the Canadian PM which seemed to have pinned the nail in the coffin. This then further deteriorated the already depreciated India-Canada bilateral ties.
Almost the same statement was once again reiterated by the Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly inside the Canadian Parliament.
While Canada insisted that Nijjar was killed by Indian machination then India summarily rebuked the Canadian claims.
The indictments and counter-accusations went viral and entertained the world population for a regular few days.
In the meantime, a strong rumor spread like wildfire that President Joe Biden while being in Delhi to attend the G20 meet had sounded Indian Prime Minister about the killing of the Canadian National Hardeep Singh.
This must have further enraged PM Modi.
As the Indian side took it as a challenge from Canada, Justin Trudeau fired yet another salvo against India and said that the Canadian allegation of India was based on an intelligence report compiled and documented by the Five Eyes Alliance.
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA. These countries are parties to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement treaty, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, Five Eyes can also refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries. (Source-Wikipedia).
If the Five Eyes Alliance confirms and is confident in its findings then let’s presume that the Five Eyes Alliance is speaking the truth.
When the Five Eyes Alliance announced its findings and accused India of the killing the US and other allies came into action.
US Secretary Antony Blinken, even in a reluctant mood, talked to his Indian counterpart but assured him that such “events” shall in no way dampen the increasing US-Indian interests.
The US inability to threaten India is clear.
If and when the US misbehaves with India then India may opt to quit from the US-designed security apparatus-the QUAD that comprises Australia, Japan, India and India.
Not sure but the majority of the world’s intellectuals say that the QUAD mechanism has been strategically designed to curb the ever-increasing Chinese influence in South Asia and across the world.
Or in other words, the US and India are glued to each other only to tease and tame China.
However, this may not be true if one were to read carefully what US President Joe Biden has reiterated on China in recent days.
Biden has said, “The US side is willing to maintain communication with China and work together to address the global challenges”.
What is more than interesting is that President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet shortly in San Francisco, California, USA.
To recall, US Secretary Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have already met in Washington at the UN building recently.
If so then it is good news for those who wish US-China to reconcile for the larger interest of Global peace.
Back to the main story:
The India-Canada high current grudge has had its Himalayan impact upon the yet-to-be-born babe, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) which took its presumably last breath with the sudden ushering in of the unannounced and unexpected war in between the State of Israel and Palestinians.
It was October 7, 2-023, that the high voltage war between Israel and Palestine started.
Unfortunately, it is this continuing war which has at least divided the entire energetic and beaming proponents of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in favor of Israel or for that matter Palestine.
The entire Muslim countries housed in the Economic Corridor plus the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (a country deliberately left out by those countries who gave birth to this corridor concept) have in the possible strongest words condemned the Western non-Muslim (Christian) world powers for having poured sympathies favoring Israel and by extension ignored the Palestinian heavy casualties.
As for Pakistan, what is important for the Islamic Republic, as I understand, is the conduct of the approaching elections scheduled for next year January 2024.
So the entire attention of Pakistan is on holding free and fair elections.
The War that started on October 7, 2023, (around the time of the Nepali festival Dashami) is continuing yet which speaks of the “summary failure” of the United National International Body.
I would say the UN Body itself is a White Elephant as several burning world issues, the Kashmir dispute included, have been shelved for decades and decades. The UN Body is so weak that it can’t even bring into effect its own “resolutions” made in the past on the lingering Kashmir dispute.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterras who was in Kathmandu gave a slight hint to the continuing war but did not send warning notes to both the warring parties in the Middle East.
India, I recall, used to hate Israel because Nepal had established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, in and around 1960, and is at the moment best friend of Israel in the entire South Asia.
India these days much depends upon Israel to strengthen its espionage instruments and, I am told, has imported sophisticated electronic gadgets from Israel which bug the telephone/mobiles of the leaders in opposition.
However, this is yet to be substantiated.
This means leaders not belonging to Modi’s BJP party are being tapped with Israeli electronic instruments.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Modi behave with each other as the “two kids separated in the KUMBH Mela” as is shown in several Indian films.
What surprised the Muslim world that was included in the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor was the statement that emanated from the Indian foreign ministry headed by the split personality S. Jay Shankar that supported Israel in the continuing war and ignored its old and late Yasser Arafat’s nation Palestine.
The Palestine leader Yasser Arafat was considered to be the most desirable friend of India till the time of Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi.
I recall, as and when Yasser Arafat landed in India, he was accorded a very warm welcome while inside India which meant that till that time India and Israel were at a comfortable distance. The politics soon took a different turn. As India inched closer to the US, Israel and India began inching closer to each other signalling a marked change in the political equations in between and among the countries.
Equations keep on changing as India which was close to the former USSR now has jumped closer to the USA thus ignoring the very presence of the Russian Federation heir apparent of the former USSR, now defunct.
However, not all love and honor is lost for the heir apparent of the former USSR-the Russian Federation.
That India still has a soft corner for the Russians got reflected when the final statement of the G20 meet came out, the statement as was expected had no use of strong words against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
This means that India can jump yet to the side of the Russians should the US fail to honor the Indian demands for sophisticated weapons for its possible use against Pakistan and China.
The aborted Corridor Concept:
The idea of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) appears to have been awaiting its last funeral rites as a conflict of religion interests has gripped the conception which was in its embryonic stage itself at the time of the G20 Summit in Delhi in September this year.
The contesting/conflicting parties are not going to settle for less this time around, as it appears.
The Muslim Countries more so the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia ( the self-proclaimed leader of the Muslim countries) and the tiny Qatari Kingdom have expressed their highest degree of hatred against the state of Israel which unconditionally enjoys support from the affluent Western nations.
By the way, the Qatari head of State is shortly visiting Nepal.
To recall, Saudi Arabia and Iran are now good friends.
China mediated between the two countries which have had strained ties for over a decade or so.
Puzzling is that India which has taken the side of Israel by ignoring the will and the desire of the Muslim world is dangerous which allows the international commentators to conclude that the Israel-Palestine War shall in all likelihood impede the process of the development of the Corridor concept.
Yet another puzzle is that the Muslim countries which have exhibited their brotherly ties with the State of Palestine have so far not condemned the stance of the Indian regime which has clearly stated its preference for the State of Israel.
I guess as per the experience that I have gained over decades and decades, the Muslim world now supporting Palestine will soon come forward in garlanding Indian Prime Minister Modi for his contribution in spreading hatred against Muslims across the world.
Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and a host of others will once again after a short interval begin lauding the Indian efforts in conceiving the concept of the India – Europe Corridor.
The Muslim countries will in all likelihood forget the hatred of minority Muslims in India.
Politics has this puzzling side/aspect as well which is puzzling indeed.
Commercial interests more often than not suppress interests based on religion.
Interestingly, a small contingent of interested people across Nepal came out into the streets in support of Palestine.
Nepal government’s stance on the Middle East war was clearly based on what the Indian regime ordered Nepal which is India’s tail now.
Concluding remarks: The concept of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor was, we are told, the joint idea of President Biden and Prime Minister Modi itself whose main objective was, as is the rumor, to blunt the Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI).
However, with the Israel-Palestine war, the concept as such has seen grand division amongst the participating Muslim and the non-Muslim countries thus raising questions as to the chances of the corridor concept taking a final shape at all.
Add to this the Canada-India war of words too have split the powerful countries.
While some are with India the Western nations are in support of Canada.
Bangladesh is playing double: India’s perfect disciple Bangladesh was invited to witness the G20 proceedings in Delhi this September and has in a surprising manner exhibited its closeness with India’s rival China — the country which constructed some seven miles long tunnel lane in Bangladesh under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The BRI tunnel lane is already in operation in Dhaka which speaks so many things unspoken.
What does it mean? Is B’desh playing double?
Is this country making a fool of India?
Clearly, B’desh is interested in developing its country immaterial of the fact from where the substantial assistance comes.
Be that as it may, the G20 meet in Delhi is sure to come across several troubles because of the Canada-India continuing war of words.
India finally has resumed its visa awarding to the Canadian nationals which was interrupted for some time.
This then must have had a serious impact on the very concept of the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor as the participating Muslim countries have condemned the State of Israel for having waged a fatal war against Muslim Palestine State.
The Corridor touches Israel and then proceeds towards Europe.
This news portal wishes for the early settlement of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.
We wish both Israel and Palestine must reconcile with each other in order to maintain peace in the entire region.
Let peace prevail in the Middle East. That’s all.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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