The Hindu : Caught in the crossfire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Leader Page Articles

Caught in the crossfire

By Kuldip Nayar

The entire region has fallen prey to the forces of chaos... Religion is being used to divert people's attention from economic problems.

THIS IS the second time the Conference of South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) cannot be held in India. Once again, New Delhi has refused visa to Asma Jehangir and A. Rehman, both well-known human rights activists in the region. The Government's insistence on the stoppage of cross-border terrorism before having normal relations with Islamabad is understandable. Terrorism, indeed, has made Pakistan unpopular in India. But a bar on the entry of even liberal Pakistanis will prove counterproductive. They appreciate India's exasperation and are critical of the military regimes in their own country. Their effort is to help develop a South Asia identity so as to submerge territorial and religious entities the different countries in the region articulate. Sovereignties and borders can stay but economically and socially they will be one unit.

A leading Pakistani journalist has sent me a message saying that he is proud to be a South Asian, a Pakistani and a Muslim. The order in which he has placed his identities is important. Some day, this will happen despite the establishments at New Delhi, Islamabad, Colombo and Kathmandu. Apparently, this approach does not fit into the programme of the BJP-led Government. Left to the party, it will continue to pursue a policy of hostility towards its neighbours to prove its superiority. The anti-Pakistan feeling, whipped up constantly, tends to become anti-Muslim sentiment in north India. And this is what the BJP wants. The party experimented with it in Gujarat and got two-thirds of the Assembly seats in the State election. And it seems to be bent upon pursuing the same line till the Lok Sabha polls in October next year. It believes that it can consolidate the Hindu vote in its favour by being anti-Pakistan.

Pakistan, on the other hand, continues to train, arm and send terrorists to India so as to keep the Islamic fundamentalists happy. Their anger over America's war against Iraq is sought to be balanced by Islamabad's insidious activities across the border. The Pakistan junta has a limited vision: to serve its own purpose by placating America and keeping the critics down.

Human rights activists have unnecessarily got caught in the crossfire. They are concerned over the violation of human rights in both countries or, for that matter, the region. But they cannot raise a joint voice because they cannot meet even at a conference. Their faith is in people-to-people contact. But the Governments of both India and Pakistan, especially that of India, do not allow, even a semblance of contact lest the conciliatory feelings it evokes should water down the jingoism the Governments on both sides create. But Islamabad and New Delhi are oblivious to the mess they have made in every segment of activity in the region.

A report on Human Development in South Asia, 2002, shows a particular concern over poverty, which is deepening. "Currently, over 500 million South Asians live in absolute poverty, which is 40 per cent of the world's poor, and over 300 million are chronically malnourished. This is despite the fact that the largest South Asian countries have got food stocks that are way above their requirements. The majority of the 70 per cent South Asians who live in rural areas are women. They are responsible for producing food, yet they have the least access to the means of production, and receive the lowest wages, if at all."

The report gives several messages. The first message is that high levels of human development cannot be achieved if development priorities do not focus on the occupation of the majority of the people, farm and non-farm employment, and where they live — rural areas. Second, policies for food security have focussed on the warfare approach and not on the empowerment of people. Access to and availability of food must go hand in hand with the ability of people to purchase food.

Third, as South Asian agriculture is facing cultivable land constraints as well as negative consequences of over dependence on chemical inputs, future agricultural productivity increases must come from the advancement of agricultural research, technology and extension services. Fourth, small farms should be the centre of revival of agriculture and rural development. The incentive system that is being provided to corporate farming in South Asia should not be at the expense of the vast majority of the rural folk. And, fifth, South Asian agricultural marketing and trading systems have not been effective and efficient due to both internal constraints as well as inequitable external trading environment.

Whatever the message of the report, one thing is clear. Only a slight cut in the military budget can give the Government ample funds for schools, roads, health centres and the like. Some employment can be generated. But this can be possible only if the propaganda on both sides goes down and both the countries realise that the problem between them does not relate to defence or politics, but to economics. The Governments are not sensitive enough to realise how the people, already on the periphery, are being whipped about by the winds of change. On the other hand, the benefits of economic growth have to be equally distributed through progressive public policy initiatives to achieve maximum welfare gains for all the people, irrespective of class, caste or gender.

The entire region has fallen prey to the forces of chaos. The worst is the rising influence of fundamentalism. Religion is being used to divert people's attention from economic problems. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal are doing this with a vengeance. It is strange that there is never any rioting over unemployment or hunger. Hundreds of people are killed in the name of religion — mosque, `mandir,' church or `gurdwara'.

After freedom, the RSS suddenly became active to raise the demand for a Hindu raj. But people followed Mahatma Gandhi, who even at the height of post-partition riots, said: "Hindus and Muslims are my two eyes." In fact, his values, which were consecrated by his assassination at the hands of a Hindu fanatic, gave us respite for nearly 40 years from the Hindutva zealots. They could not get even a two-digit figure in Parliament. Indira Gandhi's Emergency gave them relevance because they were among the few to defy it.

The Sangh Parivar does not hide its ambition to establish a Hindu raj in India. Its anti-Muslim propaganda in Gujarat was open and blatant. But, apparently, New Delhi is embarrassed over the manner in which the international community reacted initially to the BJP's victory.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, was quick in saying that it was not a victory for Hindutva. Mere words will carry no conviction because as many as 17 diplomats from different countries were themselves present to see the low level to which the Parivar took the electioneering. In any case, why should the BJP feel ashamed when it is bound to duplicate the same formula in other States? One point it should, however, keep in mind: riding the wave of hate in a particular State is one thing, but converting the entire country to Hindu chauvinism is another.

A Government benefiting from polarisation in the country cannot rest till it has divided every segment of society. The BJP has done in its five-year rule what the British could not in their 150-year rule.

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