Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 18 June 2018 | Page 13

TO THE BATCAVE!
S
AID the caped crusader
to the boy wonder, but
that’s not the story here.
Bamuni hill, near Nagaon
in Assam, has a cave called
‘Baduli Karang’ (bat cave)—
as it contains colonies of
insectivorous and fruit bats.
An old site of worship, its
legends include a story of an
ascetic held in a kingdom of
women and rescued by his
disciple, whose curse turned
the women into bats. The
tale had died out by the 21st
century, when a government
servant, Abdur Rahman,
une­­arthed old records, lead-
ing locals to build a temple
at the cave’s entrance. The
place now welcomes devo-
tees on special occasions.
MILLIONS IN MEMORIAM
T
HE Buddhist monk Maduluwave Sobitha
Thero was a leader of the successful cam-
paign to defeat president Mahinda Rajapaksa
in Sri Lanka’s 2015 election by uniting the opp­­­
osition behind Maithripala Sirisena. Now,
India has donated Rs 12.7 crore to fund a hous-
ing village named after him. The 153-house
pro­­ject in Elapathag­ama in Anuradhapura dis­­
trict was inaugurated in a ceremony att­ended
by Lankan ministers and India’s acting high
commissioner. The thero, who died in 2015,
was also a leade r of the movement against Ind­­
ian intervention in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s.
MODEL OF A MODERN MINISTER
D
IGITALISE—or
perish, Nepal’s prime
minister K.P. Sharma
Oli has told his cabinet
colleagues. He delivered
the ultimatum while add­
ressing the 12th general
convention of the Nepal
National Teachers Org­
anisation in Kathmandu
recently. The country’s
PMO is to become paper-
less within six months, and
members of the council of
ministers will be expec­
ted to use laptops during
meetings. During the first
six months, befuddled
politicos may turn to ass­
istants for help, but, “We
will bid farewell to any
minister failing to operate
laptops on their own after
six months,” Oli said. In
mitigation, this will come
with a generous severance
package for the departing
ministers—a laptop.
Big Brother’s Example
C
HINA’S handling of the Doklam crisis seems to have
left a deep impression on Pakistan.
China’s leaders did not allow the standoff with India at
the Bhutanese plateau to derail bilateral ties. Instead, they
allowed engagement in trade and other areas to conti­
nue and successfully brought down the temperature in
co­operation with Indian leaders.
This development has visibly impressed Islamabad,
which may use it as a model in improving bilateral ties
with Delhi in future.
“The Chinese examples of developing robust trade ties
with India and not allowing the Doklam standoff to derail
ties are instructive,” says Dawn.
The Pakistani English daily argued in its editorial that
“the growing economic and military strength of South and
West Asia and of regional countries should be seen as an
opportunity for engagement for
Pakistan just as China has done.”
“The Chinese
Interestingly, when Chinese
examples of
President Jiang Zemin gave
similar counsel to Pakistan in
developing
the mid-1990s about putting the
robust trade
Kashmir issue on the backburner
ties with India
and allowing ties with India to
and not ­allowing
improve through trade, Pakistan
the Doklam
strongly resisted his advice.
standoff to
Much of this may have
derail ties are
stemmed from the backing
Pakistan enjoyed from the United
instructive,”
States in those days, and also
says Dawn.
from Washington’s interest in
keeping the Kashmir pot boiling.
But now, things have changed drastically. Not only is
Pakistan in the USA’s bad books for its failure to take
meaningful action against terrorists based on its own
soil, its close ally China is also growing tired of defending
Pakistan on the issue of terrorism.
Thus, at a time when Pakistan is facing isolation inter­
nationally, China is its only backer. The $60 billion China–
Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of China’s Belt and Road
Initiative, is the biggest foreign investment in Pakistan.
In general, the Pakistani economy depends heavily on
Chinese investment at a time when the US has drastically
cut down on military and other aid. Therefore, unlike in the
past, it will be hard for Pakistan to ignore Chinese advice.
With less than two months left before the crucial par­
liamentary elections Pakistan, observers feel that foreign
policy will be an important and tricky area to handle for
the new government. They feel that, whichever party
comes to power, it will have to devote a lot of time to
formulating a cogent foreign policy.
18 June 2018 OUTLOOK 13