Northeast- An Indian colony?

Indians are obsessed about maps. Wherever they go they make sure that world maps show India's territory in its entirety. That includes whole of Jammu and Kashmir, 37% of which is with Pakistan and 20% with China, and whole of state of Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed by China. The moment Google or any major website or search engine shows any change ,like showing Arunachal in China, Indian's go ballistic. They go out of the way to change the " error". Sometimes even Indian websites , officials, schools make these same mistakes and invite the wrath of the hypernationalist Indian media. They become subject of scrutiny and national debate. Their patriotism is doubted. How could they give away part of the sacred soil of India?. Never mind if some of this soil is not with us anyway. This hyper reaction is owing to lack of understanding of Indian history correctly and living in fantasized world rather than in real world. Indians fail to understand ground reality. As much as it is true that Pakistan cannot take our part of Kashmir it is equally true that India cannot take away what is theirs. But still whole of Kashmir continues to be shown in India's map. What for?.
   Now let's take the whole of northeast for example. The Indians are very sensitive about this region. So much is their love for northeast that they have kept most part of it under military occupation since independence symbolised by the draconian armed forces special powers act which gives sweeping powers to the army. If that is not enough India has done everything possible to separate this region and its people from the rest of the country and fester sepratiism their. The infrastructure in northeast is worst than in Sub Saharan Africa. Connectivity and communication between northeast and rest of country is non existent. This is especially true of easternmost States like Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. Human rights violations are rampant. Add to that millions of Bangladeshis and north indians migrate to this region changing the demographics of northeast completely. As a consequence northeast is the most least developed region in India. Threat of China looms large. Projects are halted, even critical border roads, due to environmental concerns. This all in a region that historically was never a part of India. This might sound unpatriotic but is a reality only an ardent student of Indian history will acknowledge.
  Let's take a look back in the past. Indian subcontinent stretching from Baluchistan to Dhaka was one entity only thrice before the partition of the country. The first was under the Maurya empire. The second under mughals and third under British. In neighter of these periods was whole of northeast under Indian rule prevalent at that time. The Ashokan empire never extended up to northeast although in the west it went beyond Afghanistan. The Mughals tried to take Assam several times but never went beyond Dhaka. As far as the British were concerned Assam was occupied but rest of of northeast only remained princely states with high degrees of autonomy. When India became independent it used all methods including point blank coercion to get the princely states of Northeast to accede to India. Hence the lingering dispute. If India were to claim British India's empire as its legacy then Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and Burma all can be claimed by India today as its unalienable part. Will we do that?.
    The reality is that northeast is ours because we annexed it in similar way as China did with Tibet or Xinjiang.  But India needs to create its own lasting legacy in Northeast by integrating it with the rest of the union. We need to make northeasterners as much a part of India as rest of us are. For this we need to welcome the people of northeast into rest of the country. Racist attacks on them in the rest of India must stop and culprits must be brought to justice. Infrastructure and communication in Northeast must be improved. Roads, railways and highways need to be developed. Private sector investments need to be encouraged. International airports need to be built. Pending projects need to be fast tracked. This will create millions of jobs and wean people away from insurgency. Also a favorable opinion of India will get created. The draconian AfSPA can be removed once situation becomes normal. One of the ways of doing so is to declare Northeast as a " Special Economic Zone." This will go a long way in developing the region through Indian and foreign investment. Attract tourism. This will open up the region to the rest of the country and globe. It will improve infrastructure and create jobs. Hydropower potential of northeast can be explored further. Dams can be built. Power can be genrated . Hospitals and schools need to be built. The problem of illegal immigration via Bangladesh need to be tackled.Ultimately every human being wants food, clothing, shelter, health and education. India will do well to remember that Northeast was called a" Jewel in the crown" of British India. It can continue to be crown of modern independent India if we implement sensible policies. If we separate their will be separatism.
 

Tibet- A Lost cause

For an Indian it might be impossible to spot a difference between a Tibetan and a Chinese, but ask a Tibetan and he will spot a Han from a mile. And there are millions to spot in Lhasa. The current Han Chinese population in Tibet autonomous  region is approximately 7 million. Every year at least 50000 Han Chinese are added to Tibet's ever growing population. The communist party in Beijing has permanently altered the demographics of Tibet and Lhasa. The land of snows has been emasculated by China for the last six and half decades and more.. Although history says that China occupied Tibet in 1950 the reality is that historically speaking the relationship between China and Tibet was always such that China could claim its sovereignty over Tibet any time. Whenever the central government in China was strong Tibet was under Chinese control and when central government in Beijing became weak Tibet gained more autonomy. There are numerous instances in history of Chinese army repealing Invasions by Indian kingdoms of Tibet the latest being the invasion of Tibet by Sikhs in 18th century a period in which Tibetans claim they were independent. The reality is that Tibet lost its independence the day it gave up its sword and adopted religion as its only weapon. A weak border is a unbearable temptation for an expansionist country and China is also an opportunist nation. It was quick to establish a patron and priest relationship with Tibet and the rest is history. Even when the British Indian empire invaded Tibet in 1904 under the command of Francis younghusband it was the qing empires army that tried to repeal the invasion albeit unsuccessfully. The biggest strategic mistake that Tibet did was that during the period between 1914 and  1950 it became inward looking and isolated from the rest of the world. Tibet refused to even allow itself to be used as a coducit for men and material transfer during the second world war,a decision which would earned it alliance of United States and a say in world affairs. Worst still Tibet even prohibited entry of foreigners into Lhasa for the fear of outside world. It did not make any attempt at building a modern army, a fact which was related to its international isolation. At the time of the Han invasion of Tibet the strength of Tibetan army was 8000 troops as opposed to a million strong peoples liberation army of communist China. Tibet became an easy prey. Another geopolitical mistake made by Tibet an leaders was the flight of His Holiness the Dalia Lama to India. History is replete with examples that freedom cannot be won if country's main leadership is located outside its territory.The entire kashag, as the Tibetan government is called fled to india with the consequence that today the government in exile is recognized by no one not even its host country. Great leaders like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther king fought their struggles not from another but by staying with their people. Leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Mandela And king were always prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country a facet which is probably absent in Dalai Lama. The day Dalai Lama fled, Tibetan people became leaderless and had no one to rally around for their struggle against a powerful foe.
     As far as Tibet's neighbour India was concerned Tibet was a colonial legacy. Jawaharlal Nehru did not consider Tibet to be India's problem and made every effort at international forums to postpone the discussion on the Tibet question. For him relationship with China was more important than India's national security interests. He even refused a seat at the UNSC and favoured it to China. It seems he was more worried about Chinese national interest than India's. In such and environment Tibet had no chance at surviving as an independent nation.
     In the 21 St century China has begun rapid infrastructure development in Tibet. Although India worries that this development is aimed at itself the reality is that infrastructure development of Tibet is to integrate Tibet with the rest of China. India is secondary. The same policies are being applied to another minority region of China, xinxiang. Ever since Hu Jintao too power of CPC the Chinese have begun to concentrate on the economic development of their interior regions.
 In such a scenario India too needs to build up its border infrastructure not just as a force against China but to integrate these regions with the rest of the country. Take a leaf out of Chinese books. If you separate their will be separatism and India knows that from its experience in northeast.
 As Napoleon once said " let China sleep. If she awakes the world will be sorry".  Tibet certainly has found that out.

Looking South

Russia- Pakistan relations. - A new beginning
    As Russia continues to be battered with western sanctions over Ukraine it continues to get isolated from the west. It is therefore looking towards Asia for new partners and allies. This explains it's recent multi billion dollar gas deal with China. Now it has opened a new chapter in its foreign policy by courting Pakistan. Russia has lifted its arms embargo that it had imposed on Pakistan during the cold war. It continued with the embargo even after the cold war cause it did not want to offend India. More over there was no real need to do so. But after the recent crisis in Ukraine geopolitics has changed. Russia desperately needs to find new partners and markets. So the sale of weapons to Pakistan. But what does this means for India which would be alarmed by this new turn of events? And what significance does this have for Pakistan? What are other Russian motives for courting Pakistan? Let us examine the last question first. Russia is planning longterm. After the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan the Russians want to play a bigger role in that country. For this they need the support of Pakistan as it enjoys a long border with Afghanistan. Russia already has made central Asia as its backyard. It also has Iran as its ally. It only needs Pakistan on board to complete its encirclement of Afghanistan. Moreover the European market for its gas and defence goods may get closed if relations turn hostile over Ukraine. So Russia can open a new market in Pakistan. It can sell gas to energy starved Pakistan and weapons as well to go with it. Good relations with Pakistan can also help it in tackling its security issues in Dagestan. So Pakistan can be a good partner.
          From Pakistani viewpoint it can get access too cheap Russian gas and hi tech defence goods. So alongside US, Europe and China it can now access Russian technology. This means it can get on par with India on conventional front too.Also a new partner which is a friend of its traditional rival India is good news.
  From Indian perspective it has to be a wait and watch approach. Prima facie India will look at this new alliance warily. But it need not be all that bad. International relations is not a zero sum game and not all partnership's need be bad for ones interest.On Afghanistan india too wants to play a bigger role and Pakistani cooperation will be an added bonus. Plus if Pakistan can secure Russian gas so can India. A Russia Pakistan India pipeline coming via central Asia can be thought of. An arc of cooperation between south and central Asia including Iran, Russia and China can be created. India should remember that it is too big a country to be ignored by Russia. So there need not be any insecurity. As far as weapons sales are concerned one must wait to see what weapons Russia sales. India should have no objections to sale by Russia of non lethal or defensive weapons to Pakistan.  Russia is an all weather ally of India and it will remain so.
    But as they say in politics" there are no permanent friends or enemies".