February 5, 2005 ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Mr (Shaukat) Aziz conveyed to King Gyanendra that recent developments in Nepal were its internal matter. A foreign ministry statement issued on Thursday quoted the prime minister as telling the Nepalese king that “Pakistan strictly adheres to the principles of non-intervention and non-interference in the internal affairs of states. [Dawn via Sandeep]
And why not? King Gyanendra has obviously taken a page out of Gen Musharraf’s book, by portraying himself as a bulwark against those Maoist terrorists. And like the General, he gave himself a three-year period before restoring democracy.
So far India has indicated that it is not taking the bait. That comes with the risk of King Gyanendra exploring a closer relationship with China, and its all-weather friend, Pakistan. Unless the Indian foreign policy establishment displays some nimble footwork, there are two directions, equally undesirable, that Nepal could take — it could become another Myanmar, or it could become a Himalayan Cuba. India cannot afford to be passive any longer.
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