Developing nations need to be helmsmen of their boats

Instability in the neighbourhood gives us a clear message — in a changing world, developing nations need to be the helmsmen of their boats.

You must have heard Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort. He claimed, “There are innumerable challenges, within and from outside. I am aware as we grow stronger challenges from outside will keep mounting. But I want to remind those powers, that India’s development isn’t meant to destabilise anyone. When we were rich, we didn’t force wars on anyone. We are the nation of the Buddha, war is not our way.” What’s the message embedded in these words?

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan gained power after an intense political struggle. His initial years went off well. However, a political power struggle kept intensifying and so did pressure from external powers. (Reuters)

I was reminded of Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her counterpart in Pakistan, former PM Imran Khan—though India and her leaders are fearless. A few days after leaving her country, Sheikh Hasina in a letter claimed had she agreed to a United States (US) demand to hand over St Martin Island, her regime would have remained untouched. On May 27 she had claimed, “Like East Timor ... they will carve out a Christian country taking parts of Bangladesh [Chattogram] and Myanmar with a base in the Bay of Bengal.”

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the world has grown accustomed to tectonic shifts in global power structure every few decades. The end of the two world wars led to a bitter Cold War between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the US.

Now China and the US are squaring off. The US is determined to foil China’s designs in the Red Sea region and needs strategic bases in India or Bangladesh. China’s growing influence in Myanmar made it amply clear if urgent action wasn’t taken it would be too late. It was against this backdrop that the Sheikh Hasina government’s ouster became inevitable.

Now let’s look at Imran Khan’s predicament. He gained power after an intense political struggle. His initial years went off well. However, a political power struggle kept intensifying and so did pressure from external powers. Military headquarters at Rawalpindi didn’t leave any stone unturned to destabilise him. They kept supporting Khan’s rivals. The result, Khan is in jail and efforts are on to dilute his popular support.

Khan too accused the US of toppling his government. The Intercept published a report based on classified Pakistani government documents claiming the US was miffed at the neutral stance Pakistan took when the Russia-Ukraine War broke out two years ago. According to the report, on March 7, 2022, the US State department in a meeting with Pakistani officials pressured them to remove Khan from power.

I would like to remind you of Indira Gandhi. A few months before her death she had publicly said that some foreign powers were plotting to get her out of their way.

During the 1980s, there were allegations that several Western countries (as also Pakistan) were helping fuel violent Khalistani extremism in India by sheltering extremists. These Western nations included the US, the UK and Canada. Western conscience took a beating after Indira’s assassination. But today, Canada continues to be a safe haven for many Khalistani activists.

Canada is a member of ‘five eyes’ — the coordination group of secret services of five nations (Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand) led by the US. These countries are convinced that India’s intelligence agency RAW was behind the killing of Sikh separatists in Canada.

The US too made a similar allegation. They blamed India for hatching a conspiracy to kill Khalistani ideologue Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, a US citizen. These are the same countries that have created mayhem in developing countries to serve their interests.

Western countries like to lecture the world about democracy. Let’s look at the status. The US is in the grip of election fever. A few weeks earlier there was a sham of a debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Many US critics labelled it as one of the most shameful debates in their democratic history. The question that arises is: How can a country struggling with a crisis of integrity have the temerity to lecture others?

It’s amply clear we will have to find our sweet spot in this emerging Cold War. ‘We’ means all the countries that have suffered at the hands of the developed world and are still gearing up to sprint on the path of development. During the 1950s and 1960s, countries of Asia and Africa established the Non-Aligned Movement. If the Indian PM desires, such a formal or informal platform can be initiated.

Instability in the neighbourhood gives us a clear message — in a changing world, developing nations need to be the helmsmen of their boats.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan. The views expressed are personal