Male should repair its ties with Delhi

K Natwar Singh 
Former Union Minister

It is a well-known diplomatic axiom that large countries must bear in mind the anxieties and fears of their smaller neighbours. Broadly speaking, India has followed that practice. The recent developments in the Maldives do not augur well for the future of bilateral relations between New Delhi and Male. The government of President Abdulla Yameen, earlier this week sentenced former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and sitting Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed to 19-month prison sentences for “obstruction of justice” and for not handing over their mobile phones to the police.

India has expressed its “deep dismay” at the action taken by the Male government, saying: “This casts doubts on the commitment of the government of the Maldives to uphold the rule of law and will also call into question the credibility of the entire process of presidential election in September this year.”

Gayoom and Abdulla Saeed were not even put on trial. Ever since President Yameen returned from a visit to China, he began to function as a mini-dictator. The state visit of China's President a few months later further emboldened President Yameen to start “needling” India, his country's principal benefactor. 

India voted in favour of the Maldives in the election for a non-permanent seat in the Security Council. The return of Indian helicopters and denying visas to Indian workers display immaturity. The temptation to play China against India is nothing but total ignorance of the complexities of diplomacy. China runs a very mature and well-thought-through foreign policy. Beijing is not likely to offend India to please the rash Yameen. Male is an hour's flight from Calicut. From Beijing to Male, it takes over six hours. It is not too late for the President of the Maldives to repair his relations with India. If he does not do so, he will be doing incalculable harm to his country and people.

Pranab must return to his home state

Former President Pranab Mukherjee is in the news for the wrong reasons. This is none of his doing. Actually, he must be very embarrassed. A leader of the Shiv Sena pronounced a few days back that Mukherjee should take over as Prime Minister if no party gets a majority in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The ex-President, in 2019, will be well over 80 years of age. Besides, will Pawar, Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee suggest his name? Unlikely. 

In my judgement, ex-Presidents should go back to their home states as did Rajendra Prasad, Radhkrishnan, VV Giri, Sanjiva Ready, LPJ Abul Kalam and. Pratiba Patil. Zakir Hussain and Fakruddin Ahmed died while in office.

A diplomatic breakthrough

President Donald Trump is a Jekyll-and-Hyde character. At the G7 Summit in Canada, he all but insulted his colleagues, going so far as calling the Prime Minister of Canada (his host) weak and dishonest. This was atrocious behaviour. Can anyone imagine a Kennedy, a Carter, a Reagan, a Bush or an Obama behaving in such an uncouth manner?

On the other hand, the US President did not put any foot wrong forward in Singapore. No soothsayer could have forecast so satisfactory an outcome of the Kim Jong-un-Donald Trump Summit. Seventy-year old animosity and tensions all but evaporated in 36 hours. Such dramatic diplomatic metamorphoses are rare. 

In the 20th century, I can think of two instances. The first is the Nazi-Soviet pact of August, 1939. It happened with lightning speed, a week before the beginning of World War II.

The second was President Richard Nixon’s restoration of Sino-US relations in 1972. The US President called on Mao Tse Tung who gave the green signal. The world changed. Interestingly, Mao did not return Nixon's call. Mao rarely called on any Head of State or Government.

The leader of the most powerful country in the world got on famously with the leader of one of the poorest. Who gained more from the Singapore summit is irrelevant. The summit was a diplomatic breakthrough. Unless something catastrophic happens, the American-North Korean diplomatic express will not go into reverse gear.

Total denuclearisation by North Korea will take at least two years. Until that happens, the U.S and UN sanctions imposed on North Korea will not be lifted.