IMC India - IS CONFEDERATION IN SOUTH ASIA POSSIBLE?

IS CONFEDERATION IN SOUTH ASIA POSSIBLE?
By Asghar Ali Engineer 31/12/2001 At 19:01

Note:
The unfortunate attack on Parliament by some Jihadis has brought
about further deterioration in Indo-Pak relations. But this article
is only a future vision and also one of the ways to create better
people-to-people relations in South Asia. The validity of the idea of
confederation as a future vision is not marred by the condemnable act
of attack on Indian Parliament by the extremists

Many people talk about confederation of South Asian
nations. The noted Indian politician Ram Manohar Lohia advocated it
and constantly propagated the idea. He was of the opinion that the
confederation can also help solve the communal problem. However, it
is true that this idea has been so far mooted by mainly Indians; no
known politician from other South Asian nations like Pakistan, Bangla
Desh, Sri Lanka or Nepal has propounded it. It is possible that these
nations are suspicious of India's big brother attitude.

In the World Assembly organised by The Alliance for a Responsible,
Plural and United World the idea was once again discussed by the
participants in the South Asia section. The delegates from India,
Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Nepal and Sri Lanka were present. Though one
delegate from Nepal referred to the `big brotherly attitude of India,
all others endorsed the idea of confederation of South Asia.

However, all the participants felt that there is no question of
working for confederation immediately. The participants are neither
representatives of these countries nor did they have any authority to
talk about it. They were just exploring the possibility. Also, the
idea of confederation was more of a future vision than immediate
possibility. One has to work for long and create confidence among all
South Asian nations to make this vision a possibility. In other words
confidence-building measures can play an important role. A task force
of some participants was also set up to work in this direction.

It is obvious that in present conditions such an idea appears to be
utopian. There are sharp contradictions, conflicts and mutual
suspicions. But at times utopia can also turn into reality if one
works with patience, perseverance and devotion. The example of Europe
is before us and was repeatedly cited by many participants. European
nations also had sharp mutual conflict and were at each other's
throat not so long ago. Millions of lives were lost in the two world
wars. Who ever thought until Second World War that European union
will materialise in five decades.

It is true India and Pakistan have fought three wars so
far and these two nations are always at logger heads with each other
and in present conditions looks near impossible that they can come
together in a confederal structure. Both the nations have even
developed highly destructive nuclear weapons and it appears that
South Asia is the flash point of the world today. India exploded
nuclear device first in 1999 to outsmart Pakistan and Pakistan lost
no time to explode its own nuclear device not to be outdone by India.
So far all efforts to bring the two nations including the Lahore and
Agra summits have not yielded results. Lahore summit was followed by
Kargil war and Agra summit resulted in no agreement between the two.
A cynic, therefore, can apparently maintain that a confederation is
not a distinct possibility.

However, even European Union did not come into being in
one go. It was preceded by several other measures including a
European common market. And though Saarc has no glorious record to be
proud of so far, it is an attempt in that direction. No doubt after
Kargil war between India and Pakistan Saarc was almost dead it is
being revived once again and Saarc meeting is going to take place in
Kathmandu in early January 2002. Saarc itself is an important step in
the direction of the confederation of south Asia, if one is
optimistic and strives to create a proper climate of opinion.

Thus it was also decided that the delegates present in
the conference should work to create proper climate of opinion in
their respective countries, set up committees and hold wider
consultations in their region. It is a complex democratic process,
which needs to be speeded up. Among confidence building measures it
is highly necessary to relax the present visa regime. Thousands of
families are divided across the two countries and they visit India or
Pakistan, not merely for tourism, or for political ends but to visit
their separated relatives.

It has no meaning to assume that they will spy for each
other. Such an assumption is even absurd. The spies do their work
anyway despite strict visa regime. It is also absurd that visitors
have to specify the cities to be visited and also report to the
police. In no other country such a requirement exists. The first step
for CBM will be to abolish such strict visa regime and relax it. To
begin with specification for number of cities should be abolished
right away and, if possible, visa should be issued on arrival, not
only at the border as announced by India but also at airports. Slowly
the visa regime should be completely abolished as between Nepal and
India. The Nepal-India model should be imitated by all south Asian
nations.

In fact there is more problem between India and Pakistan
than between other South Asian nations though even these nations are
not entirely free from mutual suspicion. However, relations between
other South Asian nations are not as grave as between India and
Pakistan. It is more on account of partition and two-nation theory on
one hand, and problem of Kashmir, on the other. In fact it is Kashmir
problem which is major obstacle rather than two-nation theory.

But it is closer ties and confidence building measures,
which will help solve the problem of Kashmir also. It is not proper
to maintain that without solving the Kashmir problem no other
problems between the two countries can ever be solved. In fact it is
otherwise. Closer we come through trade and other measures, easier it
will be to resolve Kashmir issue. What we need is sincerity,
commitment to solve problems and bold initiatives. It is not the
peoples of India and Pakistan who pose problem but powerful vested
interests, mainly political.

It must be remembered that basically India got divided
not on account of religion but because of mutual suspicions and
antagonism created by lack of confidence in each other. Partition
could have been averted if the leaders from both sides had shown
sagacity. Anyway it is history. History should not mar our future.
There is no doubt that future lies in greater mutual co-operation and
some kind of confederation, if possible.

As far as India and Pakistan are concerned it is not only
that nature of problem is formidable; there is also other human
perspective. There are divided families on both sides. One has to
bring to bear compassion to reunite these families. Muhajirs who were
mainly instrumental in creating Pakistan are facing the worst plight
today. They are on the receiving end from both sides of the border.
They long to meet their relatives in India and find it difficult to
visit them on account of strict visa regime, they are finding
themselves rootless culturally and socially in Pakistan. Muhajirs
have to fight for their very survival in Pakistan today.

They not only long to visit India repeatedly but also
want some measures which can undo estrangement between India and
Pakistan. Many friends from India hugged me warmly on my visit to
Pakistan and pleaded with me to launch a movement for a confederation
between the two countries. Thus human angle is as important as other
political and economic angles.

All south Asian nations are quite poor and are battling
with the problems of poverty, illiteracy, health and unemployment.
And, at the same time, they are spending astronomical sums on
maintaining large armies and are buying weapons worth billions of
dollars. Had these sums of money been spent on eradication of poverty
and illiteracy in last fifty years both nations would have immensely
benefited. It is quite possible there would have been no such levels
of poverty and illiteracy in South Asia.

Moreover it is not only the question between India and
Pakistan. The ethnic conflict between Tamils and Sinhalas in addition
to claiming more than 65 thousand lives in Sri Lanka has involved
huge expenditure on army. A country like Sri Lanka can ill affords
such avoidable expenditure. The Tamil civilians are also paying very
high price not only in terms of money but also in terms of human
life. Tamils are also divided between India and Sri Lanka as sub-
continental Muslims have been divided between three countries, India,
Pakistan and Bangla Desh.

We would like to clarify one thing here. Sub-continental
confederation, if at all it materialises in future (near or distant)
it would not mean giving up sovereignty of these nations and it would
have nothing to do with the Hindutva ideology of Akhand Bharat with
hegemony of any religion or culture. In fact such an ideology was the
root cause of trouble and was contributory in bringing about
partition of sub-continent. Respect for South Asian cultural,
religious and linguistic pluralism is the only way out without
allowing any religion, culture or language to hegemonise over others.

Series of measures like strengthening religious harmony,
promoting closer trade relationship, internal democracy, writing
proper text books (kind of text books being taught in India and
Pakistan are, to say the least, highly divisive and have been written
with political agenda in mind rather than teaching history as a
discipline) and establishing liberal visa regime with a long term
goal of abolishing it would go a long way to promote right atmosphere
for ultimate goal of confederation in South Asia or United Nations of
South Asia.

Yes, it is a vision but future of humanity is based on
such visions. Nations in 21st century should not establish rigid
boundaries but only togetherness of shared culture and history.
Widespread immigration to other countries for better living is
already delivering a blow to the old concept of nation. Nations in
cultural and linguistic sense are now dispersed in several countries
rather than confined to narrow geographical boundary. Let South Asia
lead the world in this respect

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Comments

The Need for Public Television is Very Acute

Venkatesh 31/12/2001 21:06

vriyer@udel.edu

The above article is bang on target. People, by an large, just want to live peacefully in a manner in which their basic needs are met with a minimum assurance, and there is sufficient space for their creativity, personal development and for the realization of cultural aspirations, and a sense of community, without which human beings quickly begin to feel that life is meaningless.

However we are stuck in a situation where the institutions of governance (including the judiciary) are all based on the colonial model, and propagate an extractive form of development, that completely alters human geography (which is what large dams and mega power projects essentially do), destroys nature society relationships by appropriating the commons, and eventually even all human relations are commodified. So-called 'democracy' is totally top-down, with a vast bureaucracy that is totally unaccountable to the people. All this is completely alien to the history and culture of the people of the Indian subcontinent, and is steadily propelling our societies towards complete chaos and violence.

While the situation in the Indian sub-continent has its unique characteristics, given its long history, tremendous diversity and peculiar social problems, by-and-large the same story is in evidence all over the Global South.

Unfortunately, only a few academically inclined, and socially proviledged, people, and some grassroots activists, who have had the opportunity to study history, philosophy and culture from different perspectives, and travel to different places, realize all this.

The vast majority of the population either have no opportunity to decolonize their minds (as they struggling to fend for their families with their backs against the wall at all times), or are conditioned by the corporate-owned mass media to be indifferent, mindless consumerists, completely alienated from their history, culture, nature and traditions.

All this can be altered only if citizens (particularly women's groups) all over the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) get together to form their own public television channel that can beam excellent documentaries about these isses (there are many that have been made, but do not have an audience), interviews with academics and activists, experiments in alternatives etc. into every home. The audio component of these programmes can also be broadcast via shortwave or satellite radio, so that people who do not have access to television sets are not left out.

The primary task is of sensitizing the urban elite and the middleclasses. So, even if the programmes are in English and one or two languages (Hindi/Urdu) understood by most people it would still be a good start.

My guess is that if one million families (or women) donate Rs. 10 a month (which would amount to a total of Rs. one crore or about $200,000 per month), it would be more than adequate to support such a public television operation. Its just a question of a few key people, with the necessary vision, energy and the connections, to take this up as their primary misssion, and create the necessary institutions and networks. Is anybody listening?

venkatesh

vriyer@udel.edu

Confederation!!!?

tee 04/01/2002 06:46

independentkashmir@hotmail.com

confederation is a very good idea, only if there is trust among different nenber states that make up that fedearation. India, as it's right now, can be considered a federation of different states. however, has india even managed to build a long lasting relationship with one of it's states, that is culturally , and ethnically different from the rest of india; kashmir.? the answer is no. india first has to learn how to treat it's neighbours with respect. that includes kashmir. instead of ranting the baseless rhetoric that kashmir is a part of india, and end of story and any further discussion. india should change with the times and grant each region the ability to form their own governments, and that particular region will have their soverignity, and the freedom to chose how much of their soverignity they want to dilute in making a federation. THE FEDERATION WILL RESPECT THE WISHES OF THE PEOPLE OF ANY OF ITS MEMBER COUNTRIES, WHICH IS VERY UNLIKE PRESENT-TIME INDIA!!! WHICH SEEMS TO CONSIDER ITSELF ABOVE THE WISHES OF THE PEOPLE OF KASHMIR. IT'S A WELL KNOWN FACT THAT IF A PLEBISCITE WERE HELD IN KASHMIR IN THE NEAR FUTURE, MAJORITY OF KASHMIRIS WOULD OPT FOR FREEDOM FROM INDIA. MANY LIKE THIS WEBSITE HTTP://WWW.ANGELFIRE.COM/BC/COTR claim that kashmiris want to form a separate independent country, others like the hurriyat want to join pakistan. I consider the wishes of the people the best course of action. if there has to peace in the south asian region, the kashmiris should be able to form a separate nation. in no time will all the regions think of forming a federation , since there will be mutual trust and free trade between member nations. small countries like kashmir will not have to worry that bigger neighbours like india and pakistan will gobble it again, same thing with nepal, bhutan etc. these rights mutual coexistence will be guaranteed in the constitution of federation, and will not be violated (much like article 370, which has been violated!) free trade between member countries will bring jobs, prosperity and much needed money will be diverted towards devlopment instead of ridiculous skirmishes at siachien glaciers , where no person will ever live!!
this all seems so basic to human nature, to live in peace with mutual trust. however i think, india has to take the initiative by granting kashmir it's independence , and because of that, india and kashmir could be the first two members of a federation that would soon be followed by other south asian countries.