Author: PK Balachanddran
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: January 5, 2004
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_520391,00050004.htm
International Affairs Advisor to
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga and a former Foreign Minister,
Lakshman Kadirgamar, has said that the countries of South Asia must show
concern for India's security.
"Each of us must always have an
abiding concern for India's security," Kadirgamar told Hindustan Times.
He said that the centrality of India
in the South Asian region was an entrenched fact and could not be wished
away. "It is a unique feature of the region," he said.
Explaining the concept of the centrality
of India, Kadirgamar said that no two South Asian countries would be able
to interact directly with each other without touching or crossing Indian
land, sea or air space. India, he said, was the only country, which shared
borders with other South Asian countries (except the Maldives).
Also, with each of her neighbours,
India has special ties, of ethnicity, language, culture and kinship or
of common historical experience. There was shared dependence on vital natural
resources, of a character not shared by any two other countries in the
region, Kadirgamar noted.
"No other region in the world presents
such an integrated security zone. It is unique," Kadirgamar said.
And given her preponderance and
centrality within the region, it would be surprising and wholly illogical
if India did not see its security in South Asian regional terms. Any unfriendly,
alien influence in any part of the region could quite justifiably be viewed
with concern by India, Kadirgamar said.
The International Affairs expert
pointed out that besides being central to the region, India was also the
most powerful South Asian nation. Perhaps even more significantly, there
was no other neighbour equally powerful to countervail India. These were
facts, which other South Asian nations should not ignore, Kadirgamar said.
Quid pro quo
However, he made it clear that he
was not thinking of a one-sided relationship when he pleaded for a recognition
of India's centrality and the need to accommodate its national security
concerns. India, Kadirgamar said, had a special responsibility towards
it neighbours, as enunciated by former Indian Foreign Minister IK Gujral,
through the "Gujral Doctrine".
Speaking at the Royal Institute
of International Affairs in London in 1996, Gujral had said that India
did not ask for reciprocity vis-à-vis neighbours like Nepal, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, but gave all that it could in good faith
and trust.
To this Kadirgamar added: "Correspondingly,
India's neighbours must reflect India's concerns. Appreciation of India's
concept of non- reciprocity or generosity must be expressed and acted upon.
More specifically, each of us must always have an abiding concern for India's
security."
Asked if he was hopeful about this
kind of relationship coming into existence, the Sri Lankan leader said
that there was an "increased awareness" that the security of the Indian
subcontinent was an "integer" - a whole, a thing complete in itself.
