Gujral Doctrine highlights pitfalls if country’s foreign policy is shaped to serve one’s ambition

Panchsheel was initially adopted as a guide to conduct foreign relations with Beijing. It was later extended by Nehru to cover several nations

Maintaining relations with neighbouring countries is a tough business for all governments. It is even tougher for India whose financial and militarily power and geographical size are perceived by neighbours as running counter to their security, economic, territorial, social and religious interests. Since permanent hostility is a drain on country's progress and security, every Indian prime minister has tried to keep neighbours in good humour in their own way. While AB Vajpayee and PM Modi of BJP tailored their foreign policies to suit ground realities, Jawahar Lal Nehru of Congress and Inder Kumar Gujral of Janata Dal came up with Panchsheel and Gujral Doctrine respectively, that were largely unrealistic and grandiose.

Panchsheel was initially adopted as a guide to conduct foreign relations with Beijing. It was later extended by Nehru to cover several nations. The agreement called for respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs and working for equality and peaceful coexistence. But it took no time to bite the dust. China invaded India in 1962 and seized 22,000 square kilometres of land while Pakistan had a free run to fuel communal riots, insurgency and social unrest. IK Gujral's five principles which a journalist popularized as 'Gujral Doctrine' was little more practical. His doctrine focussed only on 'immediate' neighbours - Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and dealt with China and Pakistan separately. Though he did not seek reciprocity while accommodating demands of others, he hastened to add, 'what he can give in good faith and trust'. Conscious of India's weak economic situation in his time, he could not afford to make tall claims. The remaining principles of his doctrine - peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiations, respect for each other's territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs - were just a rehash of Panchsheel.

To Gujral's credit, he signed an agreement with Bangladesh on sharing of Ganga waters, enabling Dhaka to draw, in lean season, more water than what had been provided in 1977 agreement. Dhaka reciprocated his gesture by accepting 12,000 Chakma refugees from Tripura. However, illegal migration of Bangladeshis, cattle smuggling, contraband trade, drug trafficking and infiltration of radical and Islamic groups continued unabated. With Nepal, he got the Indo-Nepal Trade Treaty renewed for 5 years but could not stem the weaking of India's political clout as Chinese increased economic aid and invested in several infrastructure projects. He also initiated spadework for Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement but failed to reduce the confidence deficit of Sri Lankans, inherited from armed insurgency of Tamil tigers and operational support they received from India. Moreover, he succeeded in freezing border dispute 'for the time being' with China. While this initiative kept the problem under the rug so long as he was in the hot seat, Chinese used it to prepare for annexing more land at a time of their choosing.

His outreach to Pakistan was profligate. Being born and educated in undivided Punjab, now Pakistan, he worked hard to promote trade, travel and culture between both countries, while keeping disputes like Kashmir and terrorism on backburner. He met Nawaz Sharif at Male on the side line of SAARC conference that led to foreign secretaries-level meeting. Their talks identified eight areas of negotiations but failed to go further. Still, he unilaterally announced several concessions to Pak tourists with regard to visa fees and police reporting. Worse, he directed R&AW to stop all aggressive intelligence operations against Pakistan without extracting matching commitment from his counterpart to restrain Army and ISI from destabilizing India. No wonder, within a year of his leaving office, Pakistan launched Kargil war, Kashmiri militants were tearing apart J&K and terrorist groups like HuM and LeT were giving hell to the security forces. Being a mediator in 1989 in getting 5 jailed militants freed in exchange of release of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then home minister, he should have realized limits of diplomatic generosity in dealing with Pakistan. But like all Indian Prime Ministers, he was in a hurry to go down in the history of Nobel Foundation as the man who brokered permanent peace with Pakistan. PM Modi had also fallen into this trap but he was a quick learner. He has now been making Pakistan pay for every act of its mis-adventure.

(Amar Bhushan worked with the Research and Analysis Wing for 24 years after briefly serving in the BSF intelligence, State Special Branch and Intelligence Bureau. He served as the Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat before he retired in 2005.)

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