ICYMI#TheTribuneOpinion: Why there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies

Global diplomacy has been shifting gears constantly; nations are trying to discern who their allies are and who are not. It’s becoming a norm to see countries at war and the US seemingly wants to be everywhere to act as the super-cop of the world. Ruling regimes are confused to apply conventional rules to diplomacy. This is exactly what The Tribune Editor-in-Chief Jyoti Malhotra puts forth in her edit piece, Global lessons in realpolitik, in which she writes that one of the key lessons is there are no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. For New Delhi, it would be good diplomacy to expand its relations with all the powers again and return to multi-alignment, but yes, ally with a strong power, at least one.

Let’s pan closer to the neighbourhood, where India seems to have lost out on a number of friendly relationships. Apart from Pakistan and China, there is now a hostile Bangladesh, a neutral Nepal, a rogue Myanmar, and a fragile Bhutan. In the absence of any meaningful effort on India’s part to keep the flock together, China has taken painstaking policy initiatives to endear them, writes Gurbachan Jagat, former Manipur Governor and ex-DGP J&K in his edit piece India must win over neighbours or will lose out. It’s time to make amends with our neighbouring countries and become proactive in the formulation and execution of our foreign policy, he writes.

Our immediate western neighbour Pakistan is basking in the glory of its top army brass being a part of the luncheon meeting with US President Donald Trump. Having been given representation in the UNSC committees, including being named the head of the Taliban Sanctions committee, Pakistan thinks it is a huge diplomatic success. However, former Indian diplomat Vivek Katju says that India need not be defensive about Pak at UN. He writes that the responsibility that comes with heading committees is a chore and does not give any substantial power to Pakistan. Rather than reacting defensively or dismissing these roles as routine, India must focus on Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun cases and ask itself if New Delhi has been able to reverse the US’s perception of India vis-à-vis the two cases.

From the neighbourhood, let’s move further west. The big question here is, how will India balance its relations with two warring nations — between Israel, which is an important Defence partner of India, and Iran, which is our economic ally. In his article, Acid test for India’s Look West policy, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran writes that New Delhi is facing an unexpected challenge in its foreign and security policy due to this conflict. With Israel continuing with its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Gaza, India may find it progressively difficult to be on Israel’s side and may have to pay a heavy price. On the other hand, a strong, stable, and friendly Iran is an invaluable asset for Delhi.

From diplomacy, let’s move to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which has caught the attention of child activist Greta Thunberg. She set out on a mission to take food aid to Gaza on a small ship. This act might not bear fruit in the present-day world but it has an inspirational value, writes former NCERT director and public intellectual Krishna Kumar in his Op-ed piece Greta’s outrage speaks louder than leaders. US President Trump might have advised her to take up an anger management course but that will not help because Greta and her supporters’ protest has a deeper source — their conscience. Perhaps Trump needs the course more than Thunberg.

Meanwhile in the east, China is simultaneously dealing with its own domestic issues. An important meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Gyaltsen Norbu, the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama, indicates that Tibet-related issues are receiving the highest level of attention from the Chinese Communist Party, writes Jayadev Ranade in his Op-ed piece China grooms Panchen Lama for post-Dalai lama era. The CCP wants to align with ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era’, he writes.

Back home, the crisis in small states like Himachal Pradesh is evident. Garbage, polythene packets and plastics strewn on the hillsides greet you everywhere. They have become a constant eyesore as tourist footfall increases in the summer. Former IAS officer Tarun Shridhar draws attention to this burgeoning problem, not only in tourist spots but in villages and remote areas of the state, in Don’t trash the Himalayas, manage waste wisely.  He recommends an institutional mechanism for garbage collection, while its disposal and recycling would be better left to entities that have learnt to monetise waste.

The voice from the North-east belongs to Sanjoy Hazarika. He writes in his article How the metro media has failed Meghalaya that the country was quick to pass a judgement on the region and its people in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case. While on a honeymoon in Meghalaya, Raja’s newly-wed wife colluded with three others from Indore to have her husband murdered. The national media at once jumped to describing the state as ‘crime-prone’ hills, even as people in Sohra, where the crime happened, were holding candlelight vigils for Raghuvanshi.

Meanwhile down south, throwing light on 11 lives lost in the Bengaluru stampede at the felicitation ceremony for RCB players, former Haryana DGP KP Singh writes in his article Why the police are singularly accountable for Bengaluru stampede that the commissioner of police had the full authority to defy the CM in the public interest, but he chose not to. The police would have been well within their rights to disallow the function at Chinnaswamy Stadium, but the police generally develop inertia if the political will does not match their assessment of the situation. Supporting KP Singh’s argument is the former Manipur DGP, who writes that the primary fault lies in the Police Act, 1861, which has made the police answerable to the state government in his Op-ed RCB victory tragedy: Police toothless, made to do state’s bidding.

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