Peace in South still elusive
Yuba Nath Lamsal
In a talk programme last week, Pakistan's ambassador to Nepal Syed Abrar Hussain highlighted more elaborately the role played by his country (Pakistan) for regional peace and stability in South Asia. Ambassador Hussain mainly focused on Kashmir issue and India-Pakistan conflict, which has direct bearing on peace and security of South Asia. His focus was on the initiative taken by Pakistan in resolving outstanding issues with India and establishing peace in entire South Asia.
Peace is the most desired commodity not only in South Asia but in the world as a whole. However, genuine peace has still been a far-fetched idea and the world is suffering from various types of conflicts— inter-state and intra-state conflicts. South Asia is not an exception. Despite efforts made from various quarters to develop South Asia as a peaceful and prosperous region, peace is still elusive in this region. This is mainly because of the policies and approaches of a particular dominant country in the region.
South Asia continues to be a region dogged by conflict, mistrust and suspicion. As a consequence, this region has fallen far behind in terms of social and economic development. South Asia is, thus, dubbed as a region of poor and backward people, which is often conflict ridden and hotbed of terrorism. Such a remark may appear to be quite disparaging. But this is a true statement, to a large extent, which can be validated by facts and figures.
Given the resources this region possesses, it outmatches the rest of the world. In terms of human resource, South Asia alone has the one-fifth of world's human resource, which can be turned into productive force for development if proper policies and measures were taken and collaborative and cooperative approaches are adopted by the countries of the region. If China is included in South Asia, this would be the region of almost half of the world's humanity. Besides being a part of East Asia, there are ample reasons to include China as a member of the South Asian fraternity because it has a long land border with five of the eight countries of South Asia and shares maritime border with the rest three. Based on this reality, South Asia is the world's biggest regional group, both in terms of population and geographical size.
If we look at other positive aspects this region possesses are the abundant natural resources and ancient and rich civilization and cultural heritage. The region has the world's largest potentials of water resource with hundreds of perennial rivers flowing down the mighty Himalayas. The Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea links this region with the rest of the world. South Asia used to be the treasure grove in the past for which many European came to South Asia to make their fortune. The British, French and Portuguese invaded part of South Asia and colonized it to extract economic benefits. The British imperial power remained in South Asia until 1947 that made the United Kingdom world's dominant power. Once British lost South Asia, they also lost their grip and control over the world thereby being reduced to an insignificant power from the earlier status of world's most powerful nation. This demonstrates the value and power South Asia has.
Apart from economic and natural abundances, South Asia is an ancient civilization with rich and diverse cultures. This is an asset for the people of the region to be proud of. However, these positive features have been dampened by the conflict, mistrust and suspicion among the countries of South Asia. And the region is so backward that its development level is only better than that of sub-Saharan Africa. The nature of conflict within a state and between states is so worse that it has not only dogged the development process but also divided the people of the region mentally and psychologically despite having identical history and culture. In the heart of the animosity and suspicion is India's hegemonic policy that seeks to keep the entire South Asia under its strategic and economic domination. Minus India, all other South Asian countries are in friendly terms. But India has problem with every country in the region.
In recent years, this region has earned the reputation of a breeding ground for terrorism. As a result, the focus of international war on terror has been shifted to South Asia. Afghanistan is the birth place of Taleban Islamic fundamentalists that provided base for Al Queda, a deadly international terrorist organization. Al Queda is behind most deadly attacks on several key interests of the Western countries in general and the United States of America in particular. The US –led multi-national forces are waging a war on terror in Afghanistan. Although some success has been achieved, the complete victory over terrorists in Afghanistan is still elusive. Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat to the region.
The Afghan crisis is the making of the superpower rivalry in the past. The then Soviet Union pursued the interventionist policy in the world in general and Asia in particular. As a part of encircling China and hurting US key strategic interests in East Asia, Soviet Union had brought some of the countries in East Asia including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos under its grip. Already having strategic military pact with India, Soviet Union's next target was South Asia. Afghanistan became the first victim. The Afghanistan intervention was Soviet-India collaborative design to gobble up South Asia. Had they been successful in Afghanistan, their next target would have been Pakistan because of its location between Afghanistan and India. Fortunately, US came to the rescue and joint initiative between the United States, China and Pakistan ultimately drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.
Now the conflict in South Asia has shifted to Kashmir, which has been the flashpoint of conflict not only in South Asia but also in the entire world. The bone of contention in the relations between Pakistan and India is also the Kashmir issue. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars over Kashmir, which has, in a way or the other, afflicted the entire region. Even a layperson understands that peace in South Asia is not possible unless Kashmir issue is resolved. Yet the issue has not yet been addressed amicably. Kashmir continues to remain a disputed territory. Every day, innocent people are being killed, tortured and harassed by Indian troops. Once Kashmir issue is resolved permanently, peace would dawn in South Asia heralding new era of prosperity in the region.
The basis for resolving Kashmir issue is the implementation of the United Nations resolution for an impartial plebiscite to allow Kashmiri people determine their own destiny. The tension has prolonged in Kashmir for more than six decades because India has continued to refuse to abide by the UN resolutions despite repeated plea from the international community.
India's hegemonic and hawkish policy has marred South Asia's peace and stability. In every country in South Asia, India has, in a way or the other, meddled in the internal affairs of others or instigated tension. While it fought war with Pakistan, New Delhi is behind every conflict and tension in all other South Asian countries, too. Although Bangladesh was created with India's direct intervention, New Delhi's relations with Dhaka, too, are not comfortable as there are several outstanding issues in which India has violated international laws and other universally accepted traditions and practices. India was the one that orchestrated ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka from which Colombo has just got rid of. It has already kept Bhutan under its tight grip in exchange for protecting the authoritarian monarchy in Thimpu. Afghanistan is in the process of state building. But India has already had strong presence with the objective of having its tight grip in Kabul and also instigating some elements against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Some of the symptoms have already been visible. Nepal's case is even worse. India is directly interfering in Nepal's internal affairs by buying some of the parties and politicians. But Nepalese people are determined to fight back and are committed to safeguard Nepal's sovereignty and independence.
This is the scenario of South Asia. The animosity and lack of harmonious and cooperative relations among the countries of South Asia has contributed to further worsening the situation. These negative features have eclipsed the positive sides. Some countries in the region especially the bigger ones have the tendency of treating the smaller states as junior partners, which is the main reason for causing mistrust and suspicion. This has served as the main roadblock towards confidence building and fostering cooperative relations in a true spirit of genuine neighborliness. Despite all these pessimistic views, South Asia, indeed, possesses some positive characteristics which, if properly harnessed and utilized, the region can be turned into a prosperous zone. It would do well if South Asian countries identity the positive features and make best use of theirs for the common good of the people in the region.
The author can be reached at: yubanath@wlink.com.np
In a talk programme last week, Pakistan's ambassador to Nepal Syed Abrar Hussain highlighted more elaborately the role played by his country (Pakistan) for regional peace and stability in South Asia. Ambassador Hussain mainly focused on Kashmir issue and India-Pakistan conflict, which has direct bearing on peace and security of South Asia. His focus was on the initiative taken by Pakistan in resolving outstanding issues with India and establishing peace in entire South Asia.
Peace is the most desired commodity not only in South Asia but in the world as a whole. However, genuine peace has still been a far-fetched idea and the world is suffering from various types of conflicts— inter-state and intra-state conflicts. South Asia is not an exception. Despite efforts made from various quarters to develop South Asia as a peaceful and prosperous region, peace is still elusive in this region. This is mainly because of the policies and approaches of a particular dominant country in the region.
South Asia continues to be a region dogged by conflict, mistrust and suspicion. As a consequence, this region has fallen far behind in terms of social and economic development. South Asia is, thus, dubbed as a region of poor and backward people, which is often conflict ridden and hotbed of terrorism. Such a remark may appear to be quite disparaging. But this is a true statement, to a large extent, which can be validated by facts and figures.
Given the resources this region possesses, it outmatches the rest of the world. In terms of human resource, South Asia alone has the one-fifth of world's human resource, which can be turned into productive force for development if proper policies and measures were taken and collaborative and cooperative approaches are adopted by the countries of the region. If China is included in South Asia, this would be the region of almost half of the world's humanity. Besides being a part of East Asia, there are ample reasons to include China as a member of the South Asian fraternity because it has a long land border with five of the eight countries of South Asia and shares maritime border with the rest three. Based on this reality, South Asia is the world's biggest regional group, both in terms of population and geographical size.
If we look at other positive aspects this region possesses are the abundant natural resources and ancient and rich civilization and cultural heritage. The region has the world's largest potentials of water resource with hundreds of perennial rivers flowing down the mighty Himalayas. The Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea links this region with the rest of the world. South Asia used to be the treasure grove in the past for which many European came to South Asia to make their fortune. The British, French and Portuguese invaded part of South Asia and colonized it to extract economic benefits. The British imperial power remained in South Asia until 1947 that made the United Kingdom world's dominant power. Once British lost South Asia, they also lost their grip and control over the world thereby being reduced to an insignificant power from the earlier status of world's most powerful nation. This demonstrates the value and power South Asia has.
Apart from economic and natural abundances, South Asia is an ancient civilization with rich and diverse cultures. This is an asset for the people of the region to be proud of. However, these positive features have been dampened by the conflict, mistrust and suspicion among the countries of South Asia. And the region is so backward that its development level is only better than that of sub-Saharan Africa. The nature of conflict within a state and between states is so worse that it has not only dogged the development process but also divided the people of the region mentally and psychologically despite having identical history and culture. In the heart of the animosity and suspicion is India's hegemonic policy that seeks to keep the entire South Asia under its strategic and economic domination. Minus India, all other South Asian countries are in friendly terms. But India has problem with every country in the region.
In recent years, this region has earned the reputation of a breeding ground for terrorism. As a result, the focus of international war on terror has been shifted to South Asia. Afghanistan is the birth place of Taleban Islamic fundamentalists that provided base for Al Queda, a deadly international terrorist organization. Al Queda is behind most deadly attacks on several key interests of the Western countries in general and the United States of America in particular. The US –led multi-national forces are waging a war on terror in Afghanistan. Although some success has been achieved, the complete victory over terrorists in Afghanistan is still elusive. Terrorism continues to pose a serious threat to the region.
The Afghan crisis is the making of the superpower rivalry in the past. The then Soviet Union pursued the interventionist policy in the world in general and Asia in particular. As a part of encircling China and hurting US key strategic interests in East Asia, Soviet Union had brought some of the countries in East Asia including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos under its grip. Already having strategic military pact with India, Soviet Union's next target was South Asia. Afghanistan became the first victim. The Afghanistan intervention was Soviet-India collaborative design to gobble up South Asia. Had they been successful in Afghanistan, their next target would have been Pakistan because of its location between Afghanistan and India. Fortunately, US came to the rescue and joint initiative between the United States, China and Pakistan ultimately drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet empire.
Now the conflict in South Asia has shifted to Kashmir, which has been the flashpoint of conflict not only in South Asia but also in the entire world. The bone of contention in the relations between Pakistan and India is also the Kashmir issue. India and Pakistan have already fought three wars over Kashmir, which has, in a way or the other, afflicted the entire region. Even a layperson understands that peace in South Asia is not possible unless Kashmir issue is resolved. Yet the issue has not yet been addressed amicably. Kashmir continues to remain a disputed territory. Every day, innocent people are being killed, tortured and harassed by Indian troops. Once Kashmir issue is resolved permanently, peace would dawn in South Asia heralding new era of prosperity in the region.
The basis for resolving Kashmir issue is the implementation of the United Nations resolution for an impartial plebiscite to allow Kashmiri people determine their own destiny. The tension has prolonged in Kashmir for more than six decades because India has continued to refuse to abide by the UN resolutions despite repeated plea from the international community.
India's hegemonic and hawkish policy has marred South Asia's peace and stability. In every country in South Asia, India has, in a way or the other, meddled in the internal affairs of others or instigated tension. While it fought war with Pakistan, New Delhi is behind every conflict and tension in all other South Asian countries, too. Although Bangladesh was created with India's direct intervention, New Delhi's relations with Dhaka, too, are not comfortable as there are several outstanding issues in which India has violated international laws and other universally accepted traditions and practices. India was the one that orchestrated ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka from which Colombo has just got rid of. It has already kept Bhutan under its tight grip in exchange for protecting the authoritarian monarchy in Thimpu. Afghanistan is in the process of state building. But India has already had strong presence with the objective of having its tight grip in Kabul and also instigating some elements against Pakistan from Afghan soil. Some of the symptoms have already been visible. Nepal's case is even worse. India is directly interfering in Nepal's internal affairs by buying some of the parties and politicians. But Nepalese people are determined to fight back and are committed to safeguard Nepal's sovereignty and independence.
This is the scenario of South Asia. The animosity and lack of harmonious and cooperative relations among the countries of South Asia has contributed to further worsening the situation. These negative features have eclipsed the positive sides. Some countries in the region especially the bigger ones have the tendency of treating the smaller states as junior partners, which is the main reason for causing mistrust and suspicion. This has served as the main roadblock towards confidence building and fostering cooperative relations in a true spirit of genuine neighborliness. Despite all these pessimistic views, South Asia, indeed, possesses some positive characteristics which, if properly harnessed and utilized, the region can be turned into a prosperous zone. It would do well if South Asian countries identity the positive features and make best use of theirs for the common good of the people in the region.
The author can be reached at: yubanath@wlink.com.np
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