Security
Neighbours and their hoods
2013 was a year India would like to forget as its relations with
most neighbours remained tense
Ashok Tuteja

Fractured peace: India accused Pakistani forces of killing five soldiers in an ambush on an Army post in Kashmir

India's relations with its neighbours occupy a central place in the country's foreign policy. New Delhi is quite clear that a peaceful periphery will enable India to focus on the essential task of its development.

However, 2013 was a year India would like to forget as far as relations with neighbours are concerned, particularly with key countries like China and Pakistan.

Tension escalated with Pakistan at the dawn of 2013 when Pakistani troops attacked an Indian Army patrol on the LoC and beheaded an Indian soldier. In protest, India put the dialogue process on hold. Nawaz Sharif's spectacular victory in the elections in Pakistan in May raised hopes of an early resumption of the dialogue. However, attempts at rapprochement suffered a setback yet again when five Indian soldiers were killed on the LoC by the Pakistani side in August, sparking outrage across India.

What worsened the matters were frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops and unsavoury comments by Sharif on Jammu and Kashmir. The dialogue process is now highly unlikely to resume until the Lok Sabha elections in India in May 2014. Till then, one can only hope that nothing that further vitiates the atmosphere happens between the two countries.

China tested India's patience to the hilt in April when People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops pitched tents 19 km deep inside the Indian territory in the Ladakh region. The three-week tense border stand-off ended after intense diplomatic parleys but not before India threatened to downgrade diplomatic ties with Beijing. It became clear to the Indian leadership once again that China could not be trusted, especially under a new Communist Party leadership which looks determined to adopt an aggressive posture against all its neighbours and not just India.

silenced: Taliban militants shot dead Indian author Sushmita Banerjee in the Afghan province of Paktika in September. She was the writer of a popular book about her dramatic escape from the Taliban in the 1990s

On the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China in October, Beijing again rubbed India the wrong way, issuing stapled visa to two Indian archers from Arunachal Pradesh, who were to participate in a sporting event in China. An enraged India put on hold a visa liberalisation agreement though a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) had signed during the PM's visit earlier.

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka despite repeated assurances to the Indian leadership, President Mahinda Rajapaksa did little to provide succour to the Tamil minorities in the island nation. With the plight of Lankan Tamils becoming a highly emotive issue in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to cancel his visit to Colombo to attend the CHOGM meet in November. With wrinkles in Indo-Lankan ties quite visible, both China and Pakistan intensified their engagement with Colombo, much to New Delhi's discomfiture.

In Bangladesh, the friendly Sheikh Hasina government felt let down by India as it failed to get a crucial Land Boundary Agreement ratified by Parliament. This agreement had concluded amid fanfare in September 2011. Even the Teesta water-sharing accord could not come through, thanks to the stiff opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Hardliners in Bangladesh have already raised the pitch against India on these issues ahead of the general elections in the country.

Relations with even tiny neighbours like Bhutan and the Maldives touched a new low during the year. Bhutan was upset with India for withdrawing subsidies on gas and fuel on the eve of elections in the Himalayan nation. What apparently had irked New Delhi was Bhutan's positive response to friendly gestures being made by China.

In the Maldives, increasing anti-India sentiment being aired by some political parties has become a cause of concern for New Delhi. However, the election of Abdulla Yameen as the new Maldives President and his decision to make India his first port of call has given hope to New Delhi that relations could again start looking up.

As far as Afghanistan is concerned, India is gearing itself up to deal with the situation likely to evolve in the war-torn nation after the drawdown by NATO forces in 2014. India is also weighing the pros and cons of supplying heavy military weaponry to Kabul. It is to be seen how Pakistan will react to such a move.

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