Gujral Doctrine

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The five key principles of Gujral Doctrine were as follows:

  1. As the largest nation in South Asia, India must show a big heart. With neighbours viz. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, India must Provide Unilateral concessions to the smaller neighbours, not ask for reciprocity, but should give all that it can in good faith and trust.
  2. No South Asian country would allow its territory to be used against the interest of another country.
  3. No country would interfere in the internal affairs of another.
  4. South Asian Countries should respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
  5. Countries of South Asia must settle all their disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations.
    Logic behind the Gujral doctrine is that, since we have to face two hostile neighbours in North and the west, we had to be at ‘total peace’ with all other immediate neighbours to contain influence in the region.
Bangladesh
  • Gujral took his first lead with Bangladesh. Bangladesh and India relations were deeply frozen since the assassination of Mujibur Rehman.
  • Gujral took into confidence Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, and began to initiate a dialogue with Shiek Hasina Wajed of Bangladesh on settling the issue related to water utilisation of Ganga River.
  • A thirty-year treaty on Ganga River water sharing was hammered out.
Sri Lanka.
  • After the death of Rajiv Gandhi, India had stayed away from the domestic political concerns of Sri Lanka and the relations had slipped to an all-time low.
  • But Gujral also initiated talks with the Chandrika Kumaratunga government in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan
  • With respect to Pakistan, Gujral asserted to call off all verbal warfare tactics which were on in full swing due to the issues arising out of the nuclearisation of Pakistan.
  • He even instructed RAW to dismantle all human assets it had established in Pakistan for covert operations as he perceived them as tools that would hinder constructive engagement with Pakistan.
  • Gujral revived the dialogue process with Nawaz Sharif at the foreign secretary level.
  • India wanted a dialogue on the political, economic, cultural and social fronts while Pakistan’s sole agenda was Kashmir. A dialogue was initiated but ties hobbled.

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