Maintaining and developing good relationship with various countries is the need of hour. India is well known for promoting good relationships and avoiding conflicts. This will help to achieve safety, security and mutual co-existence,
India always strive for friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations.
Hence the foundations of India's foreign policy were laid during the freedom movement when our leaders, even when fighting for independence, were engaged with the great causes of the time. The principles of India's foreign policy, that emerged then, have stood the test of time: a belief
Defense Policy
India believes in a policy that promotes peace and international cooperation. However, the country has a land frontier of 15,200 km, a coastline of 7,516.6 km and an exclusive economic zone of 2.2 million sq. km, island territories, vital offshore installations and airspace. The armed forces, therefore, have to be kept prepared and well equipped to repel any external threat.
The country's armed forces are well trained, disciplined and free from politics. The accent in defense planning is on increasing indigenous capacity and a reliable mechanism of inter-services, inter-departmental and multi-level coordination and monitoring has been devised to help defense planning. The current strategic and technological scenarios as well as future projections are taken into consideration in preparing the defense plan. Periodic review addresses any unexpected development or threat to security.
Army
Even after the end of Cold War the global strategic environment continues to be uncertain and unstable. Some old conflicts may have ended, but the rise of religious fundamentalism and ethnic assertions have heightened tension in many parts of the world. In such a scenario, the Indian Army cannot afford to lower its guard. It needs to constantly upgrade its critical weapons and induct state-of-the-art systems to ward off threats from potential adversaries.
Navy
The Indian Navy has to guard not only a large coastline, but also offshore oil, sea bed reserves and sea-lanes that are used for 97 per cent of the Indian trade.
India's international influence varied over the years after independence.
Indian prestige and moral authority were high in the 1950s and facilitated the acquisition of developmental assistance from both East and West. Although the prestige stemmed from India's nonaligned stance, the nation was unable to prevent Cold War politics from becoming intertwined with interstate relations in South Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Delhi's international position among developed and developing countries faded in the course of wars with China and Pakistan, disputes with other countries in South Asia, and India's attempt to balance Pakistan's support from the United States and China by signing the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in August 1971.
Although India obtained substantial Soviet military and economic aid, which helped to strengthen the nation, India's influence was undercut regionally and internationally by the perception that its friendship with the Soviet Union prevented a more forthright condemnation of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan.
In the 1980s, New Delhi improved relations with the United States, other developed countries, and China while continuing close ties with the Soviet Union. Relations with its South Asian neighbors, especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, occupied much of the energies of the Ministry of External Affairs.
In the 1990s, India's economic problems and the demise of the bipolar world political system have forced New Delhi to reassess its foreign policy and to adjust its foreign relations.
Previous policies proved inadequate to cope with the serious domestic and international problems facing India. The end of the Cold War gutted the core meaning of nonalignment and left Indian foreign policy without significant direction. The hard, pragmatic considerations of the early 1990s were still viewed within the nonaligned framework of the past, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union removed much of India's international leverage, for which relations with Russia and the other post-Soviet states could not compensate.
India never hesitated to make friendship with various countries. A helping hand is the distinctive feature of Indian's foreign policy.. The end of the Cold War gutted the core meaning of nonalignment and left Indian foreign policy without significant direction. The hard, pragmatic considerations of the early 1990s were still viewed within the non-aligned framework of the past, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union removed much of India's international leverage, for which relations with Russia and the other post-Soviet states could not compensate.
With pragmatic security, economic considerations, and domestic political influences, India successfully reinforced New Delhi's reliance on the United States and other developed countries.
This helped India to abandon its anti-Israeli policy in the Middle East; and resulted in the courtship of the Central Asian republics and the newly industrializing economies of East and Southeast Asia. Although India shares the concerns of Russia, China, and many members of the Non-aligned Movement (see Glossary) about the pre-eminent position of the United States and other developed countries, different national interests and perceptions make it improbable that India can turn cooperation with these countries to its advantage on most international issues. Furthermore, although Cold War politics have ceased to be a factor in South Asia, the most intractable problems in India's relations with Pakistan,conflict over Kashmir, support for separatists, and nuclear and ballistic missile programs,still face the two countries. India foreign relations - 1995 loc data
India therefore has to review and modulate its policies towards South Asian countries by giving predominance to India's strategic imperatives of creating a peaceful South Asian neighbourhood.
South Asia as a peaceful region can only emerge by strong and firm Indian policies that brook no playing around with India's national interests.
With the above in mind, some view points are expressed below in relation to our foreign policy formulations towards the countries of the region.
Pakistan
Pakistan has emerged as a major constraint to India's progress as they instigate terrorism.. It has proliferated uranium enrichment technology to North Korea and Iran too (estimative analysis) and thereby jeopardizing vital United States strategic interests in East Asia and the Middle East. This is taking place with the assistance of and bidding of China.
India should not therefore depend on or expect United States and China to restrain Pakistan's disruptive policies in South Asia.
In relation to bringing Pakistan to heel in South Asia, India's foreign policies concerning Pakistan must incorporate the following ingredients:
Pakistan's proxy war against India needs to be carried back into Pakistan. Self-determination movements in Sindh, Baluchistan, Pashtunistan and Northern Areas need to be exploited. India's oft-quoted "pro-active policies" must be put into effect here.
Pakistan based terrorist organizations must be struck the way the Israel strikes back at its opponents.
India's foreign policies and military policies lack the essential ingredient of “Psychological Warfare” and allied operations.
Pakistan Army's stranglehold over the Pakistani nation-state and thwarting the emergence of democracy and pluralism in Pakistan needs to be vigorously exposed as part of the above operation.
Some may like to argue that the above are not realistic steps and that India does not have the capabilities to do so. This author would like to maintain, that it is within India's means to do so seeing India's preponderant power attributes.
All that India needs is to give a "shaped-charge" focus to these factors and re-order its priorities in its foreign policies.
As a starter, let India change its stand in relations to the conditions it stipulates for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan. India's strong-man, Deputy PM Advani's constant refrain is that unless Pakistan returns the persons in the “list of 20” no dialogue can take place.
This is not an advisable stand as it reduces India to the level of trading far more important considerations in its approaches towards Pakistan than the extradition of 20 street-side hoodlums.
India's conditions for resumption of dialogue with Pakistan need to rest on far more important considerations, namely that:
India will enter into dialogue with Pakistan only when a democratically elected government comes into power, through elections supervised by international observers.
India will not enter into dialogue with Pakistan based on Pakistani imposed pre-conditions of Kashmir and the rest.
India should maintain that Kashmir is not an issue historically nor is it now.
Kashmir's accession to India is non-negotiable as per the unanimous resolution of the Special Session of the Indian Parliament.
India will enter into a dialogue with Pakistan only when it begins to respect the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Jammu and Kashmir- a point endorsed by the United States through President Clinton's statement.
Nepal
Nepal has been wracked by a Maoist insurgency for the last five or six years. India has remained a passive bystander witnessing the growing erosion of Nepal's state power.
Other than giving some military materiel for counter insurgency operations, no weighty measures have been taken.
Maintaining and developing good relationship with various countries is the need of hour. India is well known for promoting good relationships and avoiding conflicts. This will help to achieve safety, security and mutual co-existence,
India always strive for friendly relations with all countries of the world, the resolution of conflicts by peaceful means, the sovereign equality of all states, independence of thought and action as manifested in the principles of non-alignment, and equity in the conduct of international relations.
Hence the foundations of India's foreign policy were laid during the freedom movement when our leaders, even when fighting for independence, were engaged with the great causes of the time. The principles of India's foreign policy, that emerged then, have stood the test of time: a belief
Defense Policy
India believes in a policy that promotes peace and international cooperation. However, the country has a land frontier of 15,200 km, a coastline of 7,516.6 km and an exclusive economic zone of 2.2 million sq. km, island territories, vital offshore installations and airspace. The armed forces, therefore, have to be kept prepared and well equipped to repel any external threat.
The country's armed forces are well trained, disciplined and free from politics. The accent in defense planning is on increasing indigenous capacity and a reliable mechanism of inter-services, inter-departmental and multi-level coordination and monitoring has been devised to help defense planning. The current strategic and technological scenarios as well as future projections are taken into consideration in preparing the defense plan. Periodic review addresses any unexpected development or threat to security.
Army
Even after the end of Cold War the global strategic environment continues to be uncertain and unstable. Some old conflicts may have ended, but the rise of religious fundamentalism and ethnic assertions have heightened tension in many parts of the world. In such a scenario, the Indian Army cannot afford to lower its guard. It needs to constantly upgrade its critical weapons and induct state-of-the-art systems to ward off threats from potential adversaries.
Navy
The Indian Navy has to guard not only a large coastline, but also offshore oil, sea bed reserves and sea-lanes that are used for 97 per cent of the Indian trade.
