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India Post
May 17, 2013
www.indiapost.com
Afghanistan: When India and China touch base J JEGANAATHAN
I
ndia and China recently held a bilateral meeting on Afghanistan, for the first time in Beijing, to chart out a joint plan to secure their multi-billion dollar investments in the war ravaged country whose future remains uncertain post US withdrawal in 2014. This cooperative mechanism raises three important questions: What are the prerequisites for such a bilateral mechanism to be more effective and sustainable? Will the Sino-Indian strategic partnership on Afghanistan assuage Pakistan's security concerns, and if yes, then to what extent? Whether it is a stand-alone approach or part of a grand strategy towards Afghanistan is also a moot question. Although this bilateral dialogue can be considered as a part of similar bilateral and multilateral endeavors by others including the US, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, India, and Pakistan, it has two unique features. First, it brings together India and China, which
the meeting has not been officially disclosed to the media. Or, it is possible that it might have been overshadowed by the latest SinoIndian border tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region. Nevertheless, it is passionately argued, especially by South block, that India should enhance its bilateral relationship with China to focus particularly on Afghanistan since both share common interests, and to secure their large scale investments. By doing so, India will be able to assuage Pakistan's concerns over India's increasing role and presence in Afghanistan, and also secure its men and materials placed in Afghanistan from Pakistan-backed militias.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). For China, its grand strategic interests are more important than immediate security concerns in Afghanistan. Once viewed as a 'graveyard of empires', China has started to see Afghanistan as a 'gateway to Central Asia' which will help it to harness energy resources and ensure supply through land routes for the benefit of its economy. On the contrary, India's immediate concerns are purely securitybased; its investments in Afghanistan, as well as the life and integrity of Indians working on various developmental or civilian projects in Afghanistan. In the past, Indian workers including embassy personnel have been brutally targeted by insurgent groups, allegedly supported Security Concerns by Pakistan. Moreover, India is Entwine Strategic paranoid about Afghanistan beInterests coming a safe haven for terrorist In a media briefing, Chinese organizations, which have heiMinistry of Foreign Affairs nous designs against India, parspokesperson Hua Chunying ticularly in Kashmir. stated, "The two sides agreed that Unlike China, India can contemplate its strategic interests in Afghanistan only in the long-term perspective, due to the fact that articulation of such interests would instantly raise Pakistan's security concerns. For now, India's Look West strategy, if there is one, will have to be satisfied by its access to Iran, which can serve as a 'gateway to Central Asia' via Chabahar port in Gulf of Omen to meet its energy interests. A l t h o u g h Salma Dam is one of the major construction projects in Afghanistan that was initiated Afghanistan's stability in 2006 with financial collaboration from India and security is indelibly linked to India's national are the two great powers of Asia the Afghan issue concerns re- security, it will remain a security in terms of military capability and gional security and stability." It hotspot for India and continue to signifies that common ground haunt its national security. politico-economic stability. Second, they hold the largest pushed these two powers to coThus, the rapprochement on investment projects in Afghani- operate. Primarily, China's security common concerns and shared instan, particularly in the mining sec- concerns in Afghanistan are two- terests between India and China on tors. (So far, India had pledged fold: to secure its investments in Afghanistan is rather superficial, USD 2bn for Afghanistan, whereas Afghanistan after 2014, and to pre- and the asymmetry within could China has invested USD 3bn on vent the threat of jihadi spill over eventually cause a trust dilemma various mining projects). Thus, it from Afghanistan to its western between the two. In the long-run, is no surprise that both share com- Xinjiang province which has a pre- Pakistan will remain a strategic partmon interests as well as concerns dominant Uyghur (Muslim) popu- ner for China's grand strategy in lation. in Afghanistan. and beyond Afghanistan. However, China has not yet During the dialogue, both sides What India lacks is the politiagreed that the Afghan issue categorically emphasized its secu- cal vision to articulate a grand or raises concerns for regional secu- rity concerns since it can handle regional strategy beyond its narity, stability, and peace, and also such concerns very well within the tional security concerns. Instead acknowledged the need for re- scope of its strong bilateral coop- of just talking the talk, both should gional cooperation and consulta- eration with Pakistan, an all- devise a regional strategy for the tion to help Afghanistan achieve weather friend and inevitable fac- Afghanistan quagmire. independence, peace, and stabil- tor in Afghanistan affairs, or mulThe writer is Research Fellow, ity. However, the exact outcome of tilateral frameworks such as the IreS, IPCS
Freedom for CBI
W
hat is surprising in the latest Congress scam is that the CBI could get close to a minister's nephew without the minister getting a whiff of it. Otherwise, in the normal course expected as in the scandal just before this one - case of the Law Minister of India vetting CBI report - the CBI could have gone to Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal pleading for permission to prosecute his nephew. And as is the law of the Congress party, permission would not have been granted. Knowing that this would be the case in any inquiry, hundreds of such trails would have gone cold and the smoking gun, although clearly visible in the government coffers, would never be found. If the CBI still tried to get close to the rulers, it would be pulled up and put in its place. So what has happened now that without the government knowing, a senior government functionary is found to be misusing his position through his relatives? It seems the CBI must have been in the know of, among others, this case of the kin of the Railway Minister. Sensing the weakness of the government which is fighting for survival with its own prime minister's reputation in tatters, it went for the kill. In these days of technological advances where things can't remain hidden for long, any arched eyebrow at CBI would bring repercussions. That is the secret of the newfound courage of CBI. Doubts however arise as to how further the CBI will be able to take this case. In 2009 it had arrested the son of Buta Singh for accepting a bribe of Rs 1 crore for silencing a case against a contractor for exploitation of dalits before the National Minorities Commission. A former Home Minister, Buta Singh at that time was Chairman of the Minorities Commission. The CBI had claimed it had enough evidence against Buta Singh. The case however could not be brought to fruition because of lack of "evidence" and six months later the CBI had to give a "clean chit" to Buta Singh. It is suspected that something similar might take place in the case of both the railway minister and law minister Ashwani Kumar. The main investigating agency of the Indian government cannot investigate the government under whose thumb it works. For every little case against senior government officials, it has to obtain permission of the government to prosecute them. As is well known, the permission is either not given or the decision is delayed so much that the case loses its immediacy and the focus of the people shifts to some other fresh scandal. The CBI faced a volley of questions from the Supreme Court recently on its functioning particularly in cases relating to top political personalities. Was it to prove to the Supreme Court that it can act independently that it swiftly booked a nephew of the railway minister? Earlier also the agency had started investigations in some high profile cases, such as the Bofors scam and the JMM bribery case with much fanfare but later the cases just fizzled out in court. The way the government, and even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have chosen to brazen it out and not seek the resignations of the accused ministers, it seems they are confident the CBI cases will go where they have gone before - to a dead end. The Lokpal bill was too ambitious. If only Anna Hazare and his team had focused on this one issue - making CBI independent all its other demands would have dovetailed into this. The CBI reports to the government. Its senior officers' appointments, promotions, transfers and post retirement career options are in the hands of politicians. This same CBI is asked to investigate the government when scams emerge. How can a slave investigate the master? And every political party when in power uses the CBI to fix its opponents and protect its own. This system is horribly flawed and unless it is changed there is no hope for corruption in high places to be probed.