Disclosure
of Prejudice
One of my
sons has just become a Canadian citizen, and another son is in the race for the H1B/green
card process. I have applied for a visa to visit these countries.
I got interested in International Relations due to my participation in Jessup Moot Court. Thereafter, I pursued my Master's Degree in International Law from the Department of Legal Studies, University of Madras. I have been an active participant in the Justice delivery mechanisms within the territories of India. I have been teaching, blogging, and experimenting in different areas of Justice administration. Hence, I am upset with the recent happenings in Canada following the murder of Late Nijjar on Canadian soil, allegedly with the connivance of Indian Intelligence Agencies; these have driven a big wedge between India and Canada.
Canada and
India have many things in common; besides being democracies and members of the Commonwealth
of Nations. Canada became a fairly independent Dominion government during the
very early part of the 20th Century. India became independent and
became a constitutional democracy about 5 decades later.
Canada’s
economy is intertwined with the US economy. Canada is one of the world's
largest countries but has the lowest population density. Hence, naturally,
countries like India, the Philippines, China and Vietnam with their prolific
population increases have contributed more to the Canadian population than
internal growth. Canada today figures very high in the Global Development Index.
Arguably, its passport is among the strongest in the world whereby Canadians
are entitled to Visa-free entry and a right to take employment in most of the
world's advanced economies. Canada has a very liberal policy of granting
asylum. Freedom of Religion, Association and the right to protest are
sacrosanct in Canadian Polity. To the credit of Canadians, it must be said that
they have evolved into a welfare state even though they aligned themselves with
the capitalist West. In its very long history, Canada did not fight its own wars.
It has also played an active role in global diplomacy and has played an
important role in UN peacekeeping operations as well as NATO-inspired security
enforcement measures around the world. India on the other hand within a period
of 50 years since its inception, had to fight 5 full-fledged wars. Some of the
areas claimed by India as its own are under Pakistani/Chinese occupation. India
is a more multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual state than most countries
in the world.
To begin
with, under the illustrious leadership of Pandit Nehru, India played an
important role in the decolonization of the world. This objective made India
align more with the policies of the USSR though officially proclaiming itself
to be non-aligned. Traditionally, Indians have perceived Canada
as a more friendly country. Nowadays,
many young Indians whose H1Bs are rejected choose to become permanent residents
of Canada. It must be said to the credit of Canada that nowadays like Australia
and New Zealand Canada also encourages immigration from all territories without
discrimination. Earlier residents of Europe and South America were preferred. Unlike
the US Green card holders, Canadian PRs get their citizenship after three years
of Domicile. Hence, asking Canada to curtail the size of its diplomatic and
consular missions will put more Indians (in a cultural sense) in additional
difficulties. India had also announced the suspension of the issue of visas to
Canadian nationals. This blanket prohibition does not go well with the Indian
Dharma of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
(World is one family). Considering our 1.4
billion population and our History of migration to other continents (voluntary
and compulsory), naturally, now look upon Canada as the land of milk and honey.
The trade between India and Canada is quite substantial, even if not at the
same level as India’s trade with the USA, China and Europe. There is a lot of
scope for our aspiring more globalized younger Indian population in a society
like Canada where there is a rule of law and the rules are implemented fairly
and uniformly. Hence, India is coming in the way of the aspirations of many of
its own younger population by downsizing the Canadian Embassies or Consulates
in India.
Pakistan-Khalistan-Contamination
The
Khalistani Movement, whose birth was fermented in India due to the
short-sighted policies of Mrs Gandhi's government provided a great opportunity
for Pakistan to avenge the India-inspired separation of Bangladesh. Since the United
Kingdom was in a better position to manipulate the foreign policy of Pakistan,
it always provided covert diplomatic support to Pakistan. Since decolonisation
drained the revenues of the United Kingdom, it was replaced by the USA, which
gave Pakistan military and economic aid in a big way. In fact, even with
respect to trade and immigration many Western nations hyphenated India Pakistan
Parity, even though India is a few times bigger and strikingly different when
it comes to constitutional governance and diplomacy. But, at the same time,
India has its own problems in development and ensuring the Unity and integrity
of its country. On the other hand, Canada does not put as much importance on
the preservation of the Unity of Canada. Very often, the people of Québec go on
a referendum to secede from Canada. They do it because their commitment to
federalism is genuine. The people of Québec realized this and saw a better
future in being part of Canada than declaring themselves to be Independent. Not
many federations in the world can risk referendums in their territories. People
are already predicting that unless the UK reverses its Brexit policy, it will
be a question of time before Scotland secedes from the UK. India faces
integration problems in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-east. Both are aggravated
by India’s hostile neighbours Despite
the support from the Indian Sikh diaspora settled in the UK, Canada, and even Australia,
the Khalistani Movement in India is part of the tragic history of Indian
National Evolution. Hence, India has reason to believe that the Western world,
more particularly the NATO alliance had been extremely partial to Pakistan.
India did not get much help from Western nations in its difficult
nation-building process. Even today, India’s share in global trade does not
match either the size of the territory or its population. Because of this,
western nations have always thought that they could take potshots at India
without fully following diplomatic and Judicial niceties. They could get away
with that many times in the past. However, the Modi government is different
from any other Indian government in the past. Mr Moraji Desai, the first non-Congress
prime minister of India (himself a very staunch Congressman) thought that India’s
Foreign Intelligence Agencies were against the international law norms
demanding non-interference in the internal affairs of a third state. That is
why when the rest of the world wanted Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to be pardoned
from his death sentence, Mr Moraji Desai did not mention a word about it. In
fact, if he could have had his way, RAW and the Intelligence Bureau would have
been disbanded long ago. Somehow, this did not happen. One must also concede
that having such agencies is not a definite guarantee of military security. If MOSSAD
can fail, as in the recent Gaza conflict, the money spent on these agencies
could have been better spent on more useful pursuits such as the mitigation of
local poverty. It is in these circumstances the increased role of Indian
Intelligence agencies in South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America
warrants more careful consideration.
India today
faces 2 hostile neighbours who have in the past waged wars against India. These
neighbours continue to interfere with the affairs that, under international law,
fall under the category of domestic jurisdiction of a state. Canada today is
ruled by a professed liberal who does not enjoy even a simple majority in the
Canadian parliament. His party does not have the maximum number of members in
the Canadian parliament. His continuance as PM compels him to expect and
reciprocate support to a party in Canada that has the maximum number of people
professing Sikhism. Hence, one can understand his compulsions. But this by
itself will not be enough to condone his transgressions of customary
international law relating to the shelter of fugitives in their territories.
If Trudeau's
government wants, based on their investigations, to initiate proceedings in
Canada and issue Letters Rogatory to the Indian courts asking for India’s
cooperation in the investigation of Nijjer’s death. Without doing it, he
thought that he could talk to the Indian Prime Minister and expect the Indian
Prime Minister to do his bidding as was done in the past by other Western
governments. [One has to recognise that Mr Nambi Narayanan was arrested and
humiliated because a foreign power was very keen that India should not pursue
cryogenic rocketry]. But then Mr Trudeau’s clout is not as strong as that of
the other power. Mr Trudeau miscalculated that the other powers (meaning Five
Eyes) would unconditionally support him in his quest for neo-imperialism of
making Asian governments dance to their tunes. But things have changed in the
world. The world is becoming truly multipolar. Military power is becoming
increasingly less dependable for influencing global affairs, as both the USA
and Russia realized in Afghanistan. Russia still cannot subjugate Ukraine.
What is needed is Reciprocal
Reconciliation
But I would want my nation to have good political and economic relations with Canada. It is in the best interest of India to have Canada as one of its reliable friends. To achieve this objective, we need more Indian diplomats in Canada and vice-versa. After all, Israeli actions against Nazi offenders had not prevented Israel from having healthy relations with countries in South America, as well as Europe. It is tightrope walking that our foreign office should perfect. As an Indian citizen, I expect a closure of this vexed issue in due course of time. It may happen if Justin Trudeau is defeated in the forthcoming Canadian polls. But I must add that even if Modi is defeated in the forthcoming Indian polls, the successor government may not be in a position to rein in Indian Foreign Intelligence Agencies as they now not only have power but also have tasted success. Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Home will find it difficult to shift the foreign policy in this regard. But the ‘Soft Power’ that we would gain with the Indian diaspora in Canada will, over a period of time. Outweigh the benefits of ‘Hard Power’ (if any?) that these Intelligence Agencies will bring to the table. We should resume visa services to Canadians and allow them to operate their visa section without any impediments by removing the cap on their consular staff.
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