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Bhutan India
Bhutan is bounded on three sides by India. From east to
west,
the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, and
Arunachal
Pradesh (formerly the North-East Frontier Agency) border
Bhutan. In
view of the long-standing political disputes and border
confrontations between India and China, Bhutan has long
been part
of India's strategic defense plan
(see Strategic Location
, this
ch.). In the view of some Indian strategists, Bhutan was a
weak
link in India's defense against China.
The key document guiding relations with India is the
Treaty of
Friendship Between the Government of India and the
Government of
Bhutan of 1949. The ten-article treaty, in force in
perpetuity,
calls for peace between the two countries and assures
Indian
noninterference in Bhutan's internal affairs in return for
Bhutan's
agreeing "to be guided by the advice of the Government of
India in
regard to its external relations" (Article 2). The treaty
provides
for compensation by India at a higher rate than provided
in the
1865 and 1910 British treaties, and it returned Bhutan's
Dewangiri
territory seized by Britain in the Duar War. It also
guarantees
free trade between the countries and duty-free transit
across India
of Bhutan's imports. Furthermore, the treaty assures the
rights of
citizens of each country and the extradition of criminals
seeking
refuge in either country.
Events in Tibet have had causal effects on
Bhutan-Indian
relations. When the Chinese communists took over Tibet in
1951,
Bhutan braced itself against a renewed external threat
with a
modernization program and a new defense posture. In his
first visit
to Bhutan in 1958, Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru
reiterated India's wish that Bhutan remain an independent
country,
"taking the path of progress according to your will."
Following
precedent, Bhutan sided with India when the Chinese army
occupied
Tibet in 1959 and a border dispute emerged between China
and India.
Nehru declared in the Indian parliament in November 1959
that "any
aggression against Bhutan . . . would be regarded as an
aggression
against India." A de facto alliance developed between
Bhutan and
India by 1960, and Indian aid increasingly bolstered
Bhutan's
strategic infrastructure development. In times of crisis
between
India and China or between Bhutan and China, India was
quick to
assure Bhutan of military assistance. Concerns were raised
by
Bhutan, however, during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War when
there were
doubts about India's ability to protect Bhutan against
China (which
sided with Pakistan) while fighting a two-front war.
In 1960 the Druk Gyalpo had said that Bhutan was not
100
percent independent because of the 1949 treaty, and until
Bhutan
emerged into the world of international diplomacy by
joining the UN
in 1971, Article 2 of the treaty seemed intact. Admission
to the
UN, however, changed Bhutan's perspective on the world
beyond India
and Thimphu's traditional dependence on New Delhi. Two
years later,
Bhutan and Bangladesh exchanged diplomatic recognition,
hinting
further at Thimphu's independent attitude. A new
interpretation of
the relationship emerged in 1974 when Bhutan's minister of
foreign
affairs said that whether or not Bhutan followed India's
advice and
guidance on foreign policy matters was optional. Bhutan
had raised
its representation in India to the ambassadorial level in
1971 and
in 1978 changed the name of its diplomatic office in New
Delhi from
the Royal Bhutan Mission to the Royal Bhutan Embassy to
further
reflect its sovereign status. A new trade agreement
between Bhutan
and India in 1972 provided an exemption from export duties
for
goods from Bhutan to third countries.
The Druk Gyalpo's statement in 1979 that the 1949
treaty needed
to be "updated" was still another move asserting
independence.
Members of the National Assembly speaking just before the
Druk
Gyalpo's "update" announcement made the interpretation
that Article
2 only required Bhutan to seek India's advice and guidance
on
matters of external affairs. Bhutan exerted its
independent stance
at the Non-Aligned Movement summit conference in Havana,
also in
1979, by voting with China and some Southeast Asian
countries
rather than with India on the issue of allowing Cambodia's
Khmer
Rouge to be seated at the conference. Bhutan's votes in
the UN on
such issues as the status of landlocked nations also did
not follow
India's leads.
Despite a history of good relations between Bhutan and
India,
bilateral border issues went long unresolved.
Indo-Bhutanese
borders had been delineated in the Treaty of Peace of 1865
between
Bhutan and Britain, but it was not until the period
between 1973
and 1984 that a detailed delineation and demarcation was
made.
Border demarcation talks with India generally resolved
disagreements except for several small sectors, including
the
middle zone between Sarbhang and Geylegphug and the
eastern
frontier with Arunachal Pradesh.
Data as of September 1991
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