Indian foreign policy - introduction
India has
failed to make a mark and earn respect in international affairs. Its bungles and
miscalculations can be put to intellectual immaturity, poor communication skills
& lack of confidence and practical experience.
Indo-Pak war (1965). At the peace talks at Taskent, the US clearly favoured Pakistan and India was obliged to return all territory captured at great cost.
Sri Lanka (1987-90): The
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) carried out a mission in northern and eastern Sri Lanka in 1987-1990 to disarm the LTTE as per the Indo-Sri Lanka accord. In what was labeled as Operation Pawan, the Indian Air Force flew about 70,000 sorties to and within Sri Lanka, without a single aircraft lost but the LTTE killed 1500 of our Army personnel. We were failures in SL. It was a mistake to tackle insurgency in an alien land when we can’t solve similar problems at home created by secessionist groups.
Myanmar (Burma:
We similarly
miscalculated in Burma. We made a big noise about supporting
for Aung San Kyi and democracy. An enraged Yangon (Rangoon) leadership let loose
a wave of terror into our North East and grabbed two of our villages on the
Manipur border. We were forced to humble pie, made a U-turn and sought peace.
Afghanistan and the Soviets: In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and India backed the invasion. During the occupation, 900,000 Afghans had been killed. Russia withdrew in 1988.. Yet when the US attacked Iraq in 1991, India objected.
1991 Gulf War: Ours was a bizarre performance in international relations - vaudeville at its best. We began by going overboard in our support for Saddam Hussein when he attacked Kuwait, and loudly denounced the multinational force operations against Iraq organised by the US. Indian mobs protested before the American consulate in Kolkata until Washington demanded they desist and India had to agree.
India’s PM in waiting decided to halt Op Desert Storm by flying to the scene of battle with his coterie. From there he dashed off to Teheran where he ran out of steam and slunk back to India beaten. Gen Norman Schwartzkopf made derisive comments and much damage had been done.
Our foreign minister publicly embraced the Iraqi President, complimenting him on his strike on Kuwait where a large number of Indians work in lowly jobs. Whereupon the Kuwaitis too umbrage and hounded out the Indian workers.
Meanwhile , our PM allowed US warplanes to use India airport facilities for their operations, leaving the international community seeing the bewildering range of contradictions.wondered whether the Indians had lost their marbles
When Rajiv Gandhi was killed, Iraq did not even bother to issue a condolence message, let alone send an emissary to attend the funeral. It was a deliberate snub and form of protest at our bizarre stand.
In 1995, during the 50th celebrations of the UN in New York, our PM, foreign minister and ambassador tried to persuade Pres Clinton not to arm Pakistan but failed. Pakistan skirted the Hank Brown Amendment and got a huge cache of weapons, including F-16s. The problem is that India’s Jekyll & Hyde mood swings don’t help. We may not approve of US policy but it does little good to broadcast our displeasure. There are other methods of getting our views across without creating diplomatic dissonance.
In 2001,
Bangladesh slaughtered 18 of our BSF jawans in an ambush. We just could not make
an appropriate response but settled for some grumbling noises.
India simply does not have the power and influence to engage in global crusade
for for democracy - it should first put its own house in order: provide basic
amenities for its long suffering people, and make a just deal with various
insurgent groups.
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