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Chirol
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Chirol

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May 11th, 2005

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Military Aid to Nepal

In response to the lifting of its state of emergency, India has resumed military aid to Nepal. For more, see Curzon’s earlier post on Nepal here.

India resumes Nepal military aid

India is resuming military aid to Nepal which it suspended after King Gyanendra seized direct power in February. An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the decision followed the lifting of a state of emergency in Nepal and the release of senior politicians.

Politics at its best. The king makes a few largely ceremonial moves towards democracy. India feels better and saves face regarding backing the King and can now safely resume military aid without being criticized. England also suspended aid for the same reasons so let’s watch whether they restart it in the coming days. Better they get aid from India and the west than from places like North Korea. Groups like Amnesty International and their ideological divorced-from-reality members forget that it’s better to have some influence over Nepalese politics than none at all. Once the insurgency is beaten we can talk democracy. Perhaps Amnesty members should spend their money on getting a degree in history or political science rather than spending it on saving terrorists.

Comments to this entry

kamesh
May 11, 2005
2:51 pm
This post looks more like "Amnesty" bashing ;-).

India has always been fearful of China having any kind of influence on its sphere of influence and Nepal has always tried to play the China card with India. This factor might have played a very important role in the decision to lift arms embargo on Nepal.
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Kamesh
Alfred Russel Wallace
May 11, 2005
5:29 pm
As a long time supporter of Amnesty, I think it is fair to say that their old policy of focusing on individuals was undoubtedly successful. Redirecting the organization to focus on regimes per se is a big issue internally in AI, and I don't know where it will end up... I hope they will return to their roots, or indeed I will send my money elsewhere.
Chirol
May 11, 2005
7:02 pm
ARW: I agree with you. Their old policies were indeed effective. Where I come into disagreement with them is when the idelogues take the reigns. Not being in politics, they have the luxury of being able to talk up ideals and not offer concrete real world solutions. Don't get me wrong, NGO's have the possibility to do a lot of good, but they often forget they have the luxury of not holding office and not having to deal with the entire world in it's complexity.
Zerempil
May 16, 2005
7:08 pm
China and Pakistan both offered to sell Nepal arms when India, the U.S., and the U.K. decided to get lofty about the state of emergency. Thus the quid pro quo of shutting down the Dalai Lama's office and the Tibetan Refugee Welfare Office in KTM -- the Indians got the point.