Around the turn of the year it was clear that makers of Indian foreign policy had decided to accord in 2011 high priority to the country’s relations with the neighbourhood and with the continent of Africa. There were good reasons for this resolve. In the first place, the contours of relations with all the major powers had already

been established fairly firmly. Indeed, leaders of all the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain — had been to New Delhi one after the other during the second half of 2010. More importantly, there was belated realisation that South Block’s energies were so concentrated on the difficult and tangled relations with Pakistan that other neighbours tended to be neglected. No wonder, China was able demonstrably to expand its ties with countries like Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to India’s disadvantage, the “all-weather” China-Pakistan friendship and strategic alliance being in a class by itself. As for Africa too, it was obvious that China’s economic and political sway there far exceeded India’s.
While fresh developments in relation to Africa are still awaited, there have been some happy signs in the immediate neighbourhood for which Indian diplomacy deserves credit. For instance, at long last, Nepal has a Prime Minister after political and governance vacuum lasting seven months. No fewer than 16 previous attempts to elect a new Prime Minister had failed, and the success of the 17th was something of a surprise. For, Pushap Kamal Dhal, better known as Prachanda, leader of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), himself a candidate in all previous contests, announced the withdrawal of his candidature literally at the last minute. Though welcome, it also raised some intriguing questions. Mr Prachanda had kept his decision secret from even his own party colleagues, some of whom, principally Baburam Bhattarai, are peeved. Similarly, the newly elected Prime Minister, Jhalanath Khanal, is one of the several leaders of the faction-ridden Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and this causes heartburn within the party.
However, the end of the protracted paralysis of both political and peace processes is heartening. Nepal can now get back to work. It will be unrealistic, however, to believe that Nepal’s crisis is over. On the contrary, grim charges still loom and Mr Khanal would need all the skill and dexterity at his command to meet them. To these I will return after briefly mentioning two other encouraging events.
First, the often prickly and sometimes frustrating relations with Bangladesh have been on an even keel since the return to power in Dhaka of the Awami League leader, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, and a series of agreements between her and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A billion-dollar credit to Bangladesh by this country has been of great help. Initially, there were complaints by Dhaka that agreements arrived at were not being implemented. But these are now rare. Some issues, such as transit through Bangladesh to India’s Northeast, are yet to be settled. But they are being discussed in a more constructive atmosphere than before.
Secondly, India has always wanted close, friendly and cooperative relations with Sri Lanka (the island republic that has no other neighbour), and so the policy remained even during the strains of Sri Lankan civil war. Of late, however, New Delhi found it necessary to tell Colombo that the wanton killings of two Indian fishermen by Lankan Navy in quick succession were unacceptable. Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao drove this home to Sri Lankan leaders with a commendable mixture of politeness and firmness.
To revert to Nepal, challenges ahead are acute and of concern to not only that country but also India with its high stakes in the peace and stability of the only neighbour with which it has an open border. Mr Khanal is the Prime Minister and the senior partner in the new ruling combination. But Maoist leader Mr Prachanda has a whip hand over him because of the huge numerical superiority of the Maoists over the CPN-UML in the Constituent Assembly. And since Maoist ideas of the shape of the Constitution differ radically from those of the Nepali Congress and other parties in the Opposition, to say nothing of several members of the CPN-UML, it is a moot point whether the Constitution can be adopted before the extended deadline that expires on May 28, 2011.
No less worrisome is the problem of integration with the regular Army of the Maoist cadres of the People’s Liberation Army and the modalities of such integration and rehabilitation. The Maoists want integration at battalion and brigade levels to which other parties are opposed. As Prime Minister until 2008, Mr Prachanda had sacked the Army chief and appointed an “interim” commander-in-chief. President Ram Baran Yadav, as Supreme Commander, had overruled the Prime Minister. Thereupon, the Maoist leader had resigned and was replaced by Mahav Nepal of CPN-UML, who had to quit in June last.
Presumably because of the absorbing interest in the Egyptian upheaval, not enough notice has been taken of another welcome development with a significant bearing on India’s extended neighbourhood. Regrettably, some weeks ago, without any discussion with Iran, India had terminated the traditional arrangement of paying Iran through the Asian Currency Union and in dollars. This was a consequence of the enhanced American sanctions on Iran and their impact on the international banking system. Understandably, Tehran was not amused. Happily, after quiet negotiations between the two countries, this problem has been solved. India would now pay Iran in euros.
One good has come out of even this unhappy episode. Both sides now have better awareness of the great importance of the Indo-Iranian relations that are civilisational, geo-strategic and economic. Iran supplies 12 per cent of India’s needs of crude oil. Its quality is even more important than its quantity. For, several Indian refineries can run only on light crude. To get it from elsewhere would be more costly. That apart, Iran’s interests in Afghanistan converge with ours, and events in Egypt and elsewhere in West Asia are almost certain to add to the already growing Iranian influence in the region.