Letters: Nepal adrift

With reference to "Nepal seals transit treaty with China" (March 22), pushed to the wall by our ham-handed policy towards Nepal, the land-locked country, as anticipated, has finally been drawn closer to China. Its transit treaty with China and relieving its total age-old dependence on India bear testimony to a flawed policy towards an otherwise historically friendly neighbour. Immediately after Independence, Indian foreign policy makers followed a conscious policy towards its strategically situated northern border to ensure the directions we took did not force Nepal to look to China, particularly in view of the latter's forcible occupation of Tibet. China's influence in the international arena has grown manifold since then.

The Narendra Modi-led government's handling of the Madhesi agitation against certain provisions of the newly enacted constitution of Nepal that led to a crippling blockade can be directly linked to China grabbing the opportunity of reducing Kathmandu's dependence on Delhi for providing transit facilities for goods exported from and imported to Nepal from third countries. For a variety of historical, cultural, economic and strategic reasons, we need to further improve our bilateral relations with Nepal and revisit our policy. Modi would need to adopt some pragmatic approach to Nepal in our policy orientation before it is too late.

SK Choudhury, Bengaluru

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