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Nepalese Sovereignty And Indian Soreness

By Maila Baje

Anything Nepal says or does these days in an effort to advance its national interest inevitably draws scowls from Indian officials and analysts. These days, our friends across the southern border seem increasingly worried that China and Pakistan may soon open consulates in the Tarai.

India's effort to wrap its opposition to such moves in the wider grievance of the "undemocratic" nature of the royal regime is becoming sickening.

Consider the kinds of questions that are being asked in New Delhi these days.

What do the Chinese want to be doing in Biratnagar? (Just think how the Chinese must have felt with all those Indian checkposts on Nepal's northern border decades ago.)

And Pakistan? The country doesn't even have a border with Nepal, much less any chance of developing substantial trade ties? Why does it need a formal presence in Birgunj? (If geographical proximity were such a noble consideration for the Delhi babus, Nepal would have long been enjoying unimpeded access to those few miles of Indian territory that separates us from Bangladesh.)

The automatic conclusion of Indian security experts - and there seems to have emerged an entire industry these past months - is that King Gyanendra is inviting Beijing and Islamabad to open consulates on their doorsteps merely to force New Delhi to soften its policies on his government. Narcissism refuses to see any limits.

New Delhi has every right to communicate its strong displeasure to Kathmandu over these and future moves. Just as Kathmandu has every right to freely pursue its options as a sovereign nation.

One must not forget the context in which these reports have emerged. For a country that hopes to benefit as a transit point between the two Asian giants, the idea of expanding Chinese diplomatic points in a way that would facilitate trade and commerce is only logical. Biratnagar is not only a key hub of Nepalese trade with India; it also is the focal point of the Kosi road the Chinese are planning to develop to boost links with Nepal.

Similarly, with the South Asian Free Trade Area having come into force this year, Nepal is justified in seeking to broaden economic ties with the second largest economy of the region. Since Birgunj has traditionally been among the key points of trade and transit, a Pakistani consulate there could help the two countries streamline procedures.

No one denies the political/strategic content of these moves. In the year since King Gyanendra took full executive control, Nepal has made a conscious decision to correct the distortions that had crept into its foreign policy during the turbulent years of multiparty rule.

China and Pakistan, together with Russia, seem to be the only countries that recognize how persistent external interference has weakened Nepal. Doubtless, the fact that these three countries themselves are fighting hard against externally inspired campaigns of subversion has allowed them to sympathize with Nepal's plight.

Obsession with the political/strategic dimension of Nepal's recent policy initiatives must not be allowed to obscure the wider benefits the kingdom would stand to gain.

Moreover, if China and Pakistan end up establishing those consulates, it will have been based on a clear recognition of the benefit to their growing relations with Nepal. Sovereign nations have the right to conceptualize and define the content of their bilateral relations in keeping with the demands of the time.

Nepal recognizes the multifaceted traditional ties it has with India and the mutual benefits they offer. By seeking to tighten what is already a stifling embrace, India is only doing a disservice to those shared values and interests. It is strange that Nepal's aspiration to live in its sovereign space is roundly criticized as anti-Indianism. That, too, from a country that struggled hard to free itself from the domination of foreigners.

Critics are welcome to oppose this reorientation of Nepalese foreign policy based on the merits of the issue. By denigrating it as a flaunting of the "China Card," critics at home and abroad are only exposing their intolerance for Nepal's right to pursue its sovereign choices.