Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 8th April

A new foreign policy agenda

The author discusses what factors must be given immediate attention in our foreign policy (by the next government)

1. Craft a vision for India in Asia in what is undoubtedly an Asian century

According to Evan A. Feigenbaum and Robert A. Manning there are two Asias:

• Economic Asia: a dynamic, integrated Asia with 53 per cent of its trade now being conducted within the region itself, and a U.S.$19 trillion regional economy that has become an engine of global growth
• Security Asia: a dysfunctional region of mistrustful powers, prone to nationalism and irredentism, escalating their territorial disputes over tiny rocks and shoals, and arming for conflict

We need to have a strategy for:

• coping with hegemonic and a potentially belligerent China
• Asian security and apparatus needed to support it
• to have the instruments, together with like-minded Asian states and perhaps the United States, to ensure a balance in Asia

This will require deep consultation both within the government and outside it.

2. Develop a comprehensive strategy to integrate South Asia

India’s military and economic prowess is greater than ever before, yet India’s ability to shape and influence the principal countries in South Asia is less than it was, say, 30 years ago. 

• An unstable Nepal with widespread anti-India sentiment, 
• a triumphalist Sri Lanka where Sinhalese chauvinism is showing no signs of accommodating the legitimate aspirations of the Tamils,
• a chaotic Pakistan, which is unwilling even to reassure New Delhi on future terrorist strikes, and, 
• potentially, an anarchic Afghanistan

We will be taken seriously in the world only when we have a peaceful and stable neighborhood.

The present government’s South Asia policy, based on five principles — bilateralism, non-reciprocity, non-interference, economic integration and irrelevance of borders — failed because it lacked effective political will, instruments and expertise. The new government must do better and devise a comprehensive 10-year action plan for the region.

3. Empower the Foreign Secretary and restructure the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MEA&FT)

Why name change : The growing global emphasis on economics and trade must be reflected in the structure and nomenclature of the MEA.

Problems of current IFS:

1. Diplomats are overstretched

2. They lack the expertise needed to negotiate effectively on complex contemporary issues

3. Confined in protocol silos which are out of tune with contemporary realities. 

India’s foreign policy must be seen as a shared partnership across departments within the government of India, and academia and think tanks outside the traditional corridors of power. 

The Task Force on National Security, chaired by Mr. Naresh Chandra - IFS does not have enough diplomats to “anticipate, analyse and act on contemporary challenges.” 

To increase its strength and improve its expertise 

• the MEA must allow, to begin with, secondments from other all India and Central services and the armed forces. 
• A new political-military affairs division should be created within the MEA (not in the MoD as suggested by the Naresh Chandra task force) with officers from the services and intelligence agencies serving it. 
• The new emphasis on trade must mean that a dedicated trade expert should be attached to most Indian missions.

‘Together we will be able to find some way to take a historic step’

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq , the chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, wants the people of India to raise their voices and press the elected representatives to rise above domestic politics on the Kashmir issue.

We need solution to Kashmir problem as it is not a problem in isolation and other parts of India are also effected by it. Reasons being:

1. Economic

 If the Kashmir issue is resolved, not only would this costly arms race come to an end, it would open up the multipliers of economic cooperation and trade. Certainly, ensuring lasting peace and stability is the greatest foundation for your future prosperity, economic growth and development.

2. Security

this conflict is a direct threat to the security and stability of the entire region. It is the main driver of militarisation and regional instability, and there is every possibility that the situation could escalate and worsen in the coming years.

Today, Kashmir stands as a potential nuclear flashpoint which could consume the lives of millions of people in an instant. Engaging in a costly nuclear and conventional arms race with Pakistan and continuing to pursue militaristic approaches in Kashmir will only add to these dangers. 

3. Moral

Kashmiris have legitimate rights and aspirations. Attempting to suppress the emotions and aspirations of millions of people by force is no way to address a political conflict. Widespread human rights abuses have taken place and grave injustices have been carried out against our people. Crushing the democratic right to protest and express political dissent, restricting free speech, persecuting entire sections of the population, foisting black laws and continuing to keep hundreds of thousands of military forces deployed for decades on end in Kashmir – surely this represents both a moral and political failure.

For peace, many barriers and obstacles will have to be overcome. Furthermore, any lasting solution must be a just one, and that necessarily means recognising and upholding the Kashmiri people’s aspirations and right to self-determination. In this regard, we are seeking only what is due to the people of Jammu and Kashmir as a matter of legal, moral, and historical right. The solution will have to be acceptable to all parties – India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Emotional scenes in Rwanda

Rwanda on Monday held solemn commemorations to mark the 20th anniversary of the genocide, with many survivors overcome with the emotion of reliving the trauma of the massacres that left nearly a million dead.

The events also bore reminders of festering anger as a major diplomatic row broke out over renewed allegations of French complicity in the genocide.

Gyaan

Rawanda Genocide explained

Years of rivalry between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi population sparked the Rwandan genocide.

In the past Rwanda had been a Belgian colony. The Belgians had favoured the Tutsi minority group because of their supposed European appearance. At first, supported by the Belgians, the Tutsis had controlled Rwanda.

However, between 1959 and 1962 the majority Hutu people had rebelled and overthrown the Tutsi government. The minority Tutsis had then been treated poorly as a result.

In 1990 a rebel group composed mainly of Tutsis based in neighbouring Uganda invaded northern Rwanda.

The civil war that followed led to increased ethnic tensions within Rwanda. Over the next four years the Hutu leadership used propaganda to assert that the Tutsis were planning to turn the Hutus into slaves. The message was that the Tutsis should be resisted.

On 6 April 1994 the plane in which the Hutu Rwandan president was travelling was shot down. Over the course of the next 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus were murdered in state-sponsored violence.

The attacks were largely organised and carried out by two Hutu paramilitary organisations. But people who had once been their friends and neighbours murdered many of the victims.