An Everest to Climb

Increasing unrest between India and Pakistan will affect Nepal badly

- Yangesh

WHEN Vinod Mehta, a veteran journalist, writer and then editor of Outlook joined a panel discussion at the Ncell Literature Festival in Kathmandu in 2012, a Nepali journalist asked him about Indian media’s poor and perhaps inaccurate coverage of Nepal. Mehta, who is known for his humour and his sarcastic writing, replied: “We are too busy with Pakistan!” After a short pause, he added, “Whenever we get spare time from Pakistan, we tend to look to America. For us, only these two countries matter. One we hate; one we admire.”

India’s diplomatic relationship with her neighbours can be appropriately described through the words of Mehta. No country in this region is either enemies or rivals for India, besides Pakistan. Countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka seem to be just neighbours. They are somehow dependent on India for mass supplies—Nepal gets its gas and oil supply from or via India.

Sometimes these countries say they experience cultural encroachment from India via Bollywood and other entities. Indian involvement in the neighbours' interim politics is also a huge issue for the political parties, critics and the press.

Being the largest economy in this region, India is dominant in arts, culture and sports too. Because of that influence, India’s unrest or war with others also affects its periphery. We have been witnessing ongoing wars—Russia-Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine, from quite a distance—though more than 70 Nepali youth lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war. But when tension arises between India and Pakistan, we are affected immediately. A five-day aerial confrontation almost shook the region, which became the talk of the town.