India - Fear Thy Neighbours

India is the largest amongst the nations that make the Indian Sub-continent - largest in area, in population, in democracy and in diversity. A glance at the atlas would be sufficient to know that seven countries small and large make up the neighborhood of India - Pakistan on the north-west, Nepal on the north, China on the north-east, Bangladesh, Burma and Bhutan on the east and Sri Lanka on the south.

Ever since India came into being in 1947, she has been more than interested in holding out the hand of friendship towards all its neighbours. Pundit J.L. Nehru's 'Panchsheel' was the best possible foot forward on the road to harmonious co-existence. It looked askance at aggression and interference and promoted peace, co-operation and respect for boundaries.

And yet, what is the history of Independent India if not a series of breaches of the above principles? Pakistan has always been a formidable foe, with no less than two Indo-Pak wars and one Kargil scuffle recorded in history. The border is nearly always tense even in times of peace, with shoot-outs often being reported in the newspaper columns and the least one says about the terrorist outfits that find shelter in Pakistan and harrass India, the better.

India and China have always been cool acquaintances at best and dire enemies at worst. The memories of the Indo-China war that led to India's debilitating defeat would still be fresh and China still deems Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state, as its rightful land. The Dalai Lama seeking asylum in India and the China-Tibet strife have further deteriorated the bilateral relations between the two nations. Besides, that China is a moral supporter of Pakistan does not help matters any.

Amongst India's smaller neighbours, most are poor countries with unstable governments and economies. The negative effect of this manifests itself in the form of the cost of numerous refugees and millions of dollars worth of aid. One can cite the example of Bangladesh - the 1971 Indo-Pak war resulted in India's win and Bangladesh's creation. As if the cost of the war was not enough, India is still bearing the expense of a sizeable number of Bangladeshi refugees.

The war that India waged against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the late 1980s in Sri Lanka was also an additional burden; it is sadly noted that even after the goodwill gesture, Sri Lanka adopted a critical outlook against India.

Nepal itself has been a politically disturbed country of late and though her relation with India is amicable enough, there have been numerous instances of slight discord and tension between the two. The nations have often been at loggerheads about trade and transit issues snd Nepal did oppose India's annexation of Sikkim. The latest cause seems to be the flood in Bihar that has been blamed on the inefficient and insufficient dam-building processes in Nepal.

Analyzed like this, India almost seems hedged in between either openly hostile or ambivalent neighbours. Anyone gracing the chair of India's foreign minister faces a tough challenge indeed.