India has to work to stabilise South Asia, radicalisation reached its crest, will subside: George Yeo

Key Highlights

• “The division between Bengal and Bangladesh is artificial, just as the division between the two Punjabs is,” Yeo said, adding, “These borders did not erase shared histories or emotional ties.” However, he acknowledged that there is no easy solution to the accumulated burden of mistrust within the South Asian region.
• According to Yeo, who is in the Indian capital to deliver the prestigious C D Deshmukh Lecture organised by the India International Centre, these unresolved internal tensions make the region vulnerable to external interference.
• Major powers, he said, could exploit South Asia’s divisions to create deeper ruptures.
• “That is why it is in India’s best interest to keep tensions low and make the Westphalian system work in its neighbourhood,” he said, adding that instability in the region ultimately constrains India’s strategic autonomy.
• The Westphalian order refers to a 17th-century treaty among European powers that established a modern system of sovereign states based on sovereignty, mutual recognition, and interdependence, ending centuries of conflict.