N. P. Upadhyaya
Kathmandu: The Pakistani Ambassador to Nepali court, Syed Haider Shah, after a long “hibernation” has become suddenly active in Kathmandu’s volatile politics.
His activities have coincided with the instability generated by the American grant assistance-the MCC.
The volatility that has gripped Nepal in the recent days and weeks even has the potential of a regime change, say political pundits in Kathmandu.
Let’s presume for the sake of convenience that the Pakistani envoy may have talked about the resumption of the Modi killed SAARC-the South Asian regional organization, which to many, a difficult proposition perhaps for the India bend leaders of Nepal.
India is an unwanted devil for many in this part of the world.
Let’s presume that Ambassador Haider is well acquainted with the Indian regular mindset as to how this Republican country born 1947 coerces and twists the arms of the smaller South Asian nations as the former have had a considerable stint in Islamophobic-Delhi as a Pakistani senior diplomat.
Delhi used to be the seat of the Mughal rulers who ruled the then India, if it were in the political map of the world, for several centuries.
Hopefully, KP Oli who is proven “my darling” of the Indian regime must have calculated the visiting diplomats’ acumen.
Though less educated, KP. Oli is a man having sharp brain among the duffers in Nepal’s current leadership looting the nation.
How former PM Oli may have reacted to Ambassador Haider’s remarks on Nepal-Pakistan relations during the one-on –one meet is not known to us however, what has been given to understand by the concerned Pak officials in Kathmandu that ” it was a routine courtesy call as part of the outreach to political leadership in the context of strengthening Pakistan-Nepal bilateral relations”.
It read further that the envoy complimented Mr. KP. Sharma Oli for his immense contributions in furtherance of bilateral ties during his tenure as Prime Minister”.
This is meaningful as it has no meaning at all in that KP Oli except receiving Pak Prime Minister Khaqqan Abassi who suddenly dropped in Nepal.
If tom-dick or harry were the PM of Nepal then he would have, as a matter of protocol, received the Pakistan PM in Nepal.
Yet Oli had dared to invite the Pak Prime Minister and had sent enough signals here and there.
Delhi had become sensitive then, this much I recall.
Back to the point:
The next SAARC Summit is to be held in Islamabad but due to narrow-mindedness of the regional oppressor, the regional body has failed to convene its annual meet which last meet in Kathmandu and was scheduled next in Islamabad.
Islamabad hopes rest of the SAARC members would press the devil, but are afraid of the regime change in their respective countries if India is pressed to the wall.
KP Oli as PM of Nepal, to the best of my knowledge, has never talked with PM Modi to resume the SAARC Summits nor he can dare for some reasons.
Oli’s Kidney impairment was carried out in Delhi for “free” and Oli is paying for the Indian obligation.
However, the “tamed” nations of South Asia, including protectorate Nepal, feel scared even to talk to PM Modi on the resumption of the SAARC conference which explains why South Asia is reeling under the firm commands of the Indian regime-the darling of the Super Power USA.
India used to be the darling of the USSR as well, however, it later joined the US camp like a chameleon.
Nepal’s submission to Indian sermons and dictates through is voluntary as the current republican order is the Indian gift which needless to say brought immense sufferings to the innocent Nepali people.
The current political instability thus has been made presumably so with the well-established and unwarranted penetration of the Indian RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) agency in Nepali politics and also with the political polarization among and between the political parties of Nepal on matters pertaining to the US’s Millennium Challenge Corporation-the MCC which stands tabled in the Parliament awaiting its parliamentary approval.
A sizeable section of the people is up against the US grant.
In addition, the Ukrainian crisis has almost polarized each and every country to which Pakistan could not be an exception.
And amid this chaotic mess in Nepal, the PAK envoy met with two presumed “India bent” Nepali leaders.
The outcome of such a redundant meet is any body’s guess.
Some even guess that the Pak envoy Haider Shah met KP Oli and Madhav Nepal only when he was influence by the US Ambassador Randy Berry.
This however remains yet to be substantiated.
The meet with K. P. Oli may be of high importance to the visiting Pak dignitary, but talking to those who possess immense love and honor for the regional monster will perhaps yield nothing, this is what observers presume here.
Once India bend is India bend forever.
Yet, the process of visiting leaders must continue which finally yield positive results.
Ambassador Haider must continue the process and he needs to meet other leaders as well.
While it is believed unmistakably that the Indian spy agency RAW tentatively rules and controls Nepal’s politics then the USs MCC too has visibly divided the country into two equal halves which is surely neither good for the political health of the country nor for the bewildered domestic population and the world.
It is also associated with the international prestige of Nepal which has a glorious past.
Those who back the approval of the MCC opine that if and when this American grant is accepted by the Nepali government, this will not only bring in miracles in Nepali development efforts but will also concurrently halt the pathetic exodus of the Nepali youths to the Gulf Countries for search of suitable and profitable jobs.
Needless to say, Nepal is being run by the remittance that the Nepali youths have been sending to their country bearing the 50-degree Celsius temperature in the station of their jobs in the Arabian countries mostly in Qatar, Kuwait, Riyadh and United Arab Emirates-UAE.
Yes! South Korea and Israel too is a lovely destination for the ignored, rejected and dejected youths of this “ever independent and sovereign” country.
And those who are up against the MCC claim that if and when the MCC is accepted by the Nepali government, the US may use Nepali territories to tease the Chinese regime through the stationing of the US Military force which is, reportedly, the ultimate aim and the objective of the US.
The US may turn Nepal into yet another Afghanistan, the opponents of the MCC say.
It would not be inappropriate to say that the US and China are not in good political terms though both the countries trade in billions and billions with each other.
Is the animosity real? Perhaps yes as it is when the issue as to which is powerful: the US or China. China though enjoys the Russian support.
The fact is that China at times expresses its highest concerns as Nepal becomes the venue for the anti-China activities.
To recall, Nepali narrative is that “We believe in one China policy and that Tibet is an integral part of China”.
Because of Nepal’s open border with India, China concludes that anti-China elements sneak into Nepal through the porous Nepal-India border.
Let’s not forget that the Tibetan exiled Dalai Lama lives in India and the latter has been using the Tibetan leader as “China card” since Nehru’s time.
The Dalai Lama has found a safe shelter in India from the time of Pundit Nehru who when badly defeated by the Chinese in the 1962 War almost became sick and finally left the world for his heavenly abode some two to three years later in the early sixties.
With these two fluctuating narratives on the American grant MCC, the country is under severe stress giving rise to anti American and Chinese slogans.
Those who favor the MCC for Nepal accuse the Chinese regime to have engineered the lobby which is hell bent on against the MCC.
The Chinese deny their involvement and say that “it is up to the Nepali government” to decide whether they approve the MCC or reject.
Whatever the US and the Chinese say, the ground reality is that both the super powers have entered Nepal and were working hard to dismiss the other.
The MCC supporters accuse the China’s Belt and Road initiative to ruin Nepal in due course of time.
The extra activities of the Chinese envoy Hou Yanqi reportedly equals to that of the US envoy Randy Berry who too, say those who have been watching the US moves, appears bent on getting MCC through the Parliament.
Needless to say, both China and the US are working here to promote their interests.
Frankly speaking China comparatively is not at all a dependable and reliable partner of Nepal.
Save Pakistan, China can’t be trusted by other countries.
The CPEC-China Pakistan Economic Corridor is what ties the two countries. That’s it.
However, the unwarranted intervention of the Indian Ambassador is easily digested for quite understandable reasons.
India’s intrusion is takes as a normal affair in Nepal. This is unfortunate.
Again back to our point:
If one were to take the former UML leader Jhal Nath Khanal as a man having a distinct Beijing tilt, then he in effect is against the approval of the MCC for Nepal.
Should this then mean that Mr. Khanal is opposing the MCC project under the “coercion” of the Chinese mission in Kathmandu?
Who else better knows than Mr. Khanal himself?
Yet keep on guessing.
However, the Pakistani Ambassador has so far not met the Nepali leader who is engaged these days in “snake farming”, we have been told.
Or Khanal is against the MCC to please the Chinese only?
It is believed that each and every Nepali leader is playing double but finally the play end with the submission to the RAW agency.
But yes, China concludes that its Belt and Road Initiative will get a great reversal if and when Nepal approves the MCC.
It is their belief as Nepal is one of the signatories of the Chinese BRI mega projects that intends to link entire South Asia through Road connectivity.
This is yet to be substantiated though but many high placed political pundits believe it to be so though we at this portal are not sure.
Interestingly, China and Pakistan have common friends in Nepal who finally “inform” the RAW in Kathmandu, it is strongly said and believed.
We don’t have much idea on this sensitive subject though.
How one could be sure and confident in such sensitive matters?
However, the general impression in Nepal has been that since the early 1990s, India some way or the other controls Nepal either activating its Kathmandu diplomatic mission or straight from Delhi which decides the very political course of this “India pained” country that it has been since the first days of India gaining conditional independence from the British Raj.
Most insulting phenomenon has been that the national media reportedly is inside the pocket of the Indian mission which is yet a strong rumor but very close to truth.
Though the media barons out rightly reject this notion and claim that they were the “nationalists” who have so far kept the country sovereign and independent to which it is not or else Nepal would have already become Sikkim.
Under these political background or better say a muddle and jumble, the Pakistani Ambassador has met the former Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Khadga Prasad Oli at his private residence in Balkot.
AS stated earlier, Oli is presumed to be an “India hand”.
Former PM Oli though is taken in Nepal as bit more nationalist compared to his political colleagues but yet his “direct” links and association with the Indian RAW chief, Samanta Kumar Goyal remains altogether no longer a secret.
Reports have it that some time last year around July, the Indian RAW Chief had entered the official residence of the sitting Prime Minister Oli in Baluatar during wee hours.
Nepal’s foreign ministry knew of this RAW penetration when the RAW Chief was back in Delhi and the Indian media reported that he just returned from Kathmandu meeting the sitting Prime Minister Oli.
This explains everything as to how Nepal is controlled by the RAW agency.
The RAW chief went to Prime Minister’s official residence straight from the International Airport which provides an inkling into what sort of “link” Oli may have with the His majesty RAW Chief Goyal.
What transpired in between RAW Chief Goyal and Oli remains yet a secret nevertheless what could be said bluntly that K. P Oli is not that much distant from the direct approach of the India’s RAW agency?
This has a different and dangerous political connotation.
So what the Pakistani Ambassador Haider may have been assured by the former PM Oli (whose proximity with the RAW is established) is any body’s guess.
Now comes Ambassador Haider’s meet with the former UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Well Mr. Nepal became Prime Minister of Nepal even if he was not elected but instead “selected” or better say “elevated” by some invisible power center(s) both from within and without.
To recall, high placed sources claim that Mr. Nepal is the one “distinguished” Communist leader who have had submitted a proposal in his party back in 1990s wherein he had demanded that “Indian military intervention” be sought to tame the then sitting monarch King Birendra.
This should explain his “intimacy” with the Indian regime in a candid manner.
Thanks that Mr. Nepal’s supreme leader Madan Bhandari scolded the former stating that “Good or bad, King Birendra is our King…and that India must not be invited to settle our internal political differences”.
Thus the wish of Mr. Nepal got dumped.
Even if Mr. Nepal’s proposal was dumped by late Madan Bhandari, but the entire episode, as it was a hot topic in the early 1990s, could shed light on Mr. Nepal’s possible intimacy and “proximity” with the Indian establishment.
However, we have nothing to worry as our anxiety mean less for our august “leaders.
As if it were not enough, Mr. Nepal while talking to a Nepali Television network in a proud manner declared that he and his boss Mr. Madan Bhandari were “key persons” in negotiating the Mahakali River treaty with India much in advance from its official ratification by the Nepali parliament.
At the people level, the Mahakali River treaty with India is taken as a curse on Nepal.
Perhaps these two incidents speak so many things unspoken and thus no more elaboration it needs, we presume.
During the meet with Mr. Nepal, February 14, the Pakistani envoy Syed Haider Shah complimented Mr. M. K. Nepal for his laudable contribution in progression of bilateral ties in various capacities as Prime Minister of Nepal.
The press note issued by the Pak embassy in Kathmandu states further that ” the Ambassador shared his hope that Mr. Nepal would continue to contribute his part in cementing the strong ties between Pakistan and Nepal”.
Thus in sum, the meeting of Ambassador Syed Haider Shah with the two senior communist leaders of Nepal must have been a “tea-coffee session” and nothing more than that.
We though don’t wish to dishearten the distinguished envoy from a very friendly country which is already a regional power in South Asia after India.
The process of meeting the leaders must be made a regular affair.
Yet let’s hope that both Mr. Oli and Nepal contribute to the enhancement of our bilateral ties with Pakistan which has been shadowed or visibly dwarfed by the excessive India bend.
Yet comparatively speaking, former PM Oli when in power dared to challenge the Indian government and published an actual political and administrative map of Nepal which incorporated even those Nepali landmasses which at the moment is under the “illegal occupation” of the recognized “expansionist” of South Asia-India which unfortunately is Nepal immediate Southern neighbor.
Last but not the least, a sizeable section of the Nepali people would wish to see Nepal-Pakistan relations attaining new heights, however, that needs sincere efforts from both the sides which is unfortunately missing.
The Pakistani Foreign Minister rarely finds time to make a trip to smaller South Asian countries.
And this Pakistani diplomatic blunder has advantaged India to a greater extent.
The six months’ long absence of Ambassador Shah allowed the Indian envoy a “free space” in Nepal to treble his penetration in the body politic of Nepal.
But yet Ambassador Haider has taken the timely initiative which, let’s hope and expect, that the momentum doesn’t evaporate in the ethereal medium sooner than later.
All said and done, the entire leaders about whom we have talked here in short were Nepal’s prominent and honored leaders and we wish their sound health and happiness to grow in the years to come even if it were at the cost of the teeming millions.
Good or bad, the Nepali population haven’t the liberty to “import” leaders from friendly countries be it the US or for that matter the all-pervasive Indian regime born 1947.
All the best wishes to Nepal-Pakistan ties.
For the Road: Most of the Ambassadors posted in Kathmandu these days have begun rushing to the private residence of K. P. Oli as if the entire political weight of this “unfortunate” nation remains in his shoulder. Is it what the diplomats conclude?
Those who rushed to see K. P Oli include, the German, the French and the US ambassador and now the Pakistani Ambassador. All roads lead to Balkot?
The US Ambassador Randy Berry has met practically all the Nepali leaders and his meet is for something benefit.
That’s all.