Importance of Panchsheel in Nepals relations with neighbours.

- Milan Raj Tuladhar

The principles of Panchsheel or the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence are enshrined as the
directive principles and policies of the state according to the Nepalese constitution (both in 1991
version and in 2015 version). In the constitution, it is pronounced as one of the guiding principles
together with the UN Charter, Non-alignment and other international law universal norms. So it has
already been a quarter century that this principle is given a high prominence in our constitution. It is
now time to assess whether we are able to implement this principle in the major relationships in our
neighbourhood.
Panch Sheel from Lumbini to Bandung
Born in Lumbini Nepal, Buddha is still the single universal peace figure influencing every
philosopher or politician advocating for peace in the world, whether it be Mahatma Gandhi, Martin
Luther King or Nelson Mandela. Even for the scientist Albert Einstein or Writer Leo Tolstoy, when
they appealed for the world peace they had to evoke the name of Buddha. After fighting 10 years
of bitter war against state, Nepals Maoists entered into peace agreement by evoking Buddhas
name. So Buddhas peace appeal is a worldwide phenomenon. So it is important here to recall
Buddhas five basic precepts, the original Panchsheel, which simply translated are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Dont harm fellow living beings. (Non-violence)

Don't take something not belonging to you. (No stealing)
Don't commit sexual misconduct.
Don't speak lies
Don't use intoxicating drink or drug.

These seem to be simple rules of conduct but they worked wonder during Buddhas time and it has
influenced peoples life even today. 2500 years back South Asia had a large number of fractured
nations. For a brief period, two most powerful states were trying to expand themselves as
dominant power of the region. They were Magadhi and Vaishali. They even had different political
systems. While Magadhi was ruled by powerful kings like Bimbisar and Ajatsatru, Vaishali was a
republic. Both of these powers competed for the favour of Buddha. Because of his advocacy of
nothing but peace, they refrained from war during Buddha s time. 200 years after Buddha, the
great emperor Ashoka, who established a very powerful and united India made Buddhism as the
state religion of India and made great efforts to spread Buddhism all over Asia and even to Greece
and Egypt.
Closer to the recent history, when British colonialists left India, they left a great scar in south Asia in
the form of division of nations and seeds of conflicts. It is in this background that wise leaders of
India and China met in early 1950s and worked out a formula to establish peace among nations.
The two countries signed an agreement based on Panchsheel in 1954 which laid down the
following principles :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Mutual respect for each others territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Non-agression.
Non-interference in each others internal affairs.
Equality and cooperation for mutual benefit.
Peaceful Coexistence.

These principles were first internationally accepted during the Bandung conference of Asian and
African countries in 1955. So they became internationally accepted norm for state-to-state relation
for all countries in general and newly independent countries in particular. It offered a new political
guidance to the democratisation of international relations. The Panchsheel accepts unique identity

and sovereignty of each country and advocates for peaceful coexistence. Hence, it is aptly called
in short as Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. These principles were endorsed by
subsequent Non-aligned member nations (NAM) Summits. The western powers first resisted to the
term of peaceful co-existence, when they were presented in UN. But in February 1972 when China
and USA signed the Shanghai communique to establish diplomatic relation between two countries,
USA accepted the principles for the first time. Over the period, the principles became tools of legal
documents in the UN system also. (Refer Declaration of Principles of International Law concerning
Friendly relations and cooperation in accordance with the Charter of UN passed by 25th UNGA in
1970 and Declaration on Establishing a New International Economic Order passed by UNGA in
1974.)
India and Panchsheel
During 1950s, when China first proposed for an agreement on Tibetan issue with India, they
included the five principles of peaceful coexistence which was accepted by India. But it was India
who coined the term of Panchsheel. Indias intention at the time must be to restore Indias glory
being established in China as the source of teachings of Buddhist Gurus such as Padmasambhav.
As Buddha got enlightened in Bodhgaya India, Chinese pilgrims have been taking the pilgrimage to
India for ages. India had such a serious interest about Panchsheel in 1950s that when Myanmar
was conducting negotiation with China for establishing diplomatic relations, India persuaded
Myanmar leaders to make it based on Panchsheel in spite of the latters reluctance at first.
After 1962 border conflict with China, India lost interest in the Panchshel relations with China for
obvious reasons. However, it never denied this principles being discussed in the NAM forums
continuously. In the recent developments, as India is now trying to be global power on her own,
she is trying to redefine her role in various ways. She has recently tried to revive the Panchsheel
relation with China to some extent. But due to the situation of rivalry between two countries, doubts
are being expressed on how deep the relationship can go despite a growing trade relation between
two countries.
In view of the troubled relations with the neighbours during the long rule of the Congress
government in India, the non-congress rulers had tried several times to change the scenarios in the
neighbourly relations. It was in this context that during Mr. Deve Gowdas prime-ministership, his
Foreign Minister Mr. I. K. Gujral made 5 point proposal to improve relations with neighbouring
countries (called in short as Gujral doctrine). They were:
1. With neighbours like, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India does not ask
for reciprocity, but gives and accommodates what it can in good faith and trust.
2. No South Asian country should allow its territory to be used against the interest of another
country of the region.
3. No country should interfere in the internal affairs of another country.
4. All south Asian countries must respect each others territorial integrity and sovereignty.
5. They should settle all their disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations.
It was further explained at the time that the essence of this doctrine had been being the largest
country in the South Asia, India can extend unilateral concessions to her neighbours in the
subcontinent. It also aimed at confidence building and changing mindsets. Overall, the doctrine
pragmatically tried to shed the idea of ultra-nationalism while dealing with smaller neighbours and
tried to make regionalism work in the South Asia. As Gujrals ideas were quite ahead of his times, it
was difficult to change the mindsets in the Indian bureaucracy at the time. Gujral later became PM
for a year in 1997-98. Although he was respected in neighbouring countries because of his
progressive idea, but his internal policies faced lots of troubles and he had to call for snap election.
After that, the Indian establishment conveniently shelved the doctrine. When Mr. Narendra Modi
came to power in 2014, there were some hopes from him. His neighbourhood first policy got good
response initially. But an imposition of informal blockade against Nepal in the aftermath of great
earthquake in Nepal earned India a bad name in Nepal. India now seemed to be trying to repair

this image. But if she is really to restore her historical image of Ramrajya in the sense of Land of
Justice, return to Gujral doctrine could be a great guide for the present leadership.
Value of PanchSheel in the context of Big Power conflicts
In the present day world politics, the big powers like USA, China, India, Japan and European
Union are trying to expand their sphere of influence one way or other. In some cases, they are
even trying to form groups to consolidate their influences in the countries like Nepal. While India
and China are using their soft powers also to exert their influence, the USA is still depending
largely on their traditional military prowess to flex their muscle. One way or other, big powers want
the small and poor countries to toe their line of thinking in the implementation of the countrys
policies and plans. On the other hand, the growing threat of terrorists, particularly from Islamist
militants of late has necessitated greater global cooperation to keep a coordinated vigil against
terrorist attacks.
India and China are both rising powers of this century and each of them want to see Nepal to be
more friendlier to themselves. Besides many other obvious reasons for this attitude, the most
important one is their security concern. India has a sense of threats of international terrorists
making their way from the open border between two countries whereas China is always concerned
about anti China elements making Nepal their base camp to launch overt and covert operations
against the Tibetan region of China. In such a situation, defending Nepals sovereignty and
independence is definitely the topmost priority for Nepal. For this Nepal must maintain excellent
relation with both the countries without giving in to domination of one particular big power at the
expense of the other. Only then Nepal can remain truly independent. The neighbouring countries
also fully understand the sensibilities of Nepal as a small but oldest independent country in the
region. Only if they respect and recognise the national pride of Nepal that they will be able to
command our respect. That is why we have enshrined Panchsheel principles in our constitution
which our neighbours are also expected to reciprocate in its true sense. This will definitely help in
maintaining good neighbourly cooperation.

Practical application of Panchsheel for Nepal

Nepal had established diplomatic relations with China in 1955 based on Panchsheel. Since then,
both the countries had followed the principles religiously. On the contrary, Nepals relation with
India was considered as more close because of plain terrain and open border , the necessity of
application of peaceful coexistence was not considered necessary. However our experience tells
us that the two countries should have long accepted the reality about the incongruence of their
political stands. It was not only the ultranationalist feeling in Nepal as alleged in certain quarters
but more on the corridors of power in Delhi that nationalistic ego had prevented her from following
a policy of strict non-interference against the neighbouring countries. And such a policy never
produced pleasant results for her.
Since Nepal India relations are currently to be reviewed together with gamut of treaties and
agreements governing the relations between two countries, it is high time to think about the laying
down a strict code in the relationship between two countries based on policy of mutual noninterference as laid down in Nepal s constitution. It will ultimately benefit both the countries in the
longer term.
References :
1. Ministry of External Affairs of India
2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China
4. A Brief History of Panchsheel by Chandra Shekhar Das Gupta, Economic & Political weekly
Jan 2016
5. Xi Jinpings Speech on 60th Anniversary of Panchsheel as reported in the Hindu, June 2014