India, China and the Himalayan Buffers

Indiäs reflection of its foreign policy with the immediate neighbourhood of the Himalayan states in the perception of Nehru and post-Nehru regimes. With the underlying concern to exert regional leadership, India looks at the states of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim in its north, through different conceptual lenses as all of these involve China related complications for India. Having consolidated its hold over Tibet, India apprehends Chinäs role in eroding Indiäs special position in the Himalayas. Although India has incorporated Sikkim, Nepal has already moved out of Indiäs clutches. Could Bhutan be the next for India to finally lose its privileged position in much of the Himalayan sphere, which also includes Indiäs problematic neighbour, Pakistan, and Afganistan, in which competition with Pakistan and stances towards Islamist Jihadist overspill southward (as Afganistan faces southwards down from the Hindu Kush into Indian subcontinent) concerns India from its immediate to extended neighbourhood (as Afganistan is the gateway to and from Central Asia).