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ACADEMY OF
FINE ARTS AND LITERATURE
SOUTH ASIA
POLITICAL POLICIES
Seminar on
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD :TOWARDS A VISIONARY APPROACH September 21, 2006 India International Centre, New Delhi. On the occasion of the International Day of Peace The Seminar on the theme : Peace in the Neighbourhood: Towards a visionary approach was
presided over by Mr. Lalit Mansingh,
former Foreign Secretary GOI, H. E. Mr. Jon Westborg
Ambassador of Norway in India, inaugurated the Seminar. The Chief Guest of the meeting was Ambassador A. N. Ram, Senior diplomat
and expert. The Special Guest of
the Meeting was Ms. Shalini Diwan, Director, UNIC, India. The eminent panelists
included: Prof. Lokesh Chandra,
Mr. K.T.S. Tulsi, Prof. Syed Shahid Mehdi,
Prof. Kapil Kumar and Mr. Satya
Paul The Seminar was attended
by diplomats of the Embassies of USA, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives,
Laos, Azerbaijan, the representative of the European Commission, besides
scholars from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Jamia Milia
Islamia and IGNOU, mediapersons and other. Ms. Ajeet Cour founder Chairperson, AFAL welcomed the participants. In her
address she highlighted the perceptions of distrust and suspicion in
the minds of the neighbouring countries who suspect that India has a
big brotherly syndrome. This suspicion is like a phobia,
the cure of which lies with the neighbours only. Quoting Ben Okhri,
she highlighted the imperative for peace for progress and well-being
of the milieu. In her opinion, compassion was the only means for realizing
a world of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
“There
has been a global decay of sensitivity and compassion”, she continued.
“Religious and ethnic violence in almost all the SAARC countries have
destroyed the multi-cultural fabric
of their societies. Almost all of them are pushed against the wall by
their own tensions of racial, religious, ethnic, and minority conflicts,”
she reiterated. Mr. Lalit Mansingh, Former Foreign
Secretary GOI,
in his presidential address, stated at the outset, that the Academy
of Fine Arts and Literature had endeavored
to bring together the idealists and the realists through various initiatives.
He also referred to the several strands common to South Asian countries. In
his words, “As nearly one fifth of humanity, we in South Asia have a
lot in common, because we have
a shared history which binds us together. All the eight great religions
are there in our region.” Quoting
Rabindranath Tagore, who said, ‘This is the great seashore of humanity
and the great pilgrimage of the world’, Mr. Mansingh lamented the fact
that more than 60,000 people have died due to religious intolerance
and terrorism. “This needs to be stopped,” he asserted, “because it
is eating into the fundamentals of society. Terrorists attack religious
places and places of worship and create a sense of insecurity He
noted that People everywhere desire peace. It was worthwhile to note
that the Post. Havana situation will witness a forward movement of the
Indo-Pakistan Peace
dialogue. H. E. Mr. Jon Westborg Ambassador of
Norway in India, in
his inaugural address stated that the seminar was a meeting of minds
between the strategic thinkers and those with romantic vision He
added that the subject was one which needed all peace-loving countries
to be engaged in. Reminiscing from the past, he said that he had seen
villages burning during the times of the Partition of India and Pakistan.
Having spent 10 years in Sri Lanka, he said he had seen what violence
had done to the economy and cultural fabric of that country. “These
are exciting times” and peace, he urged, was a prerequisite both at
the local, national and regional levels.
“Whatever happens in the South Asian region also affects Norway, because
this is an interdependent world,” he asserted. Quoting
the statement, “ There is no path to peace; peace is the path” he perceived
that it was an all encompassing statement and was imbued with vision
and pragmatism. Delineating
the bottlenecks to progress, he said that in South Asia, the ultimate
task was to seek measures for conflict resolution and avoidance of violence
at all costs, because violence was the costliest and the most time-consuming
path to peace. The State has an obligation to ensure that its citizens
can live in peace. In his opinion, dialogue was the only effective means
for resolving issues of conflict. In
conclusion, he stated : “If you don’t know where you are going, all
paths will lead you there”. Ambassador A. N. Ram, Senior diplomat and expert, in his address, outlined the need for
a recognition that SAARC
needed an alternate approach and fresh thinking.
“Our leaders he said, “must change their entrenched mindset and
show vision. Perhaps without
undermining SAARC in the future, it
would be desirable to set it aside for the time being as an institutional
framework for South-Asian Economic Cooperation and think of practical
alternatives.” Delineating
a pragmatic approach comprising seven points towards a revitalization
of SAARC, he stated that South Asian Economic Cooperation should primarily
envisage building infrastructural linkages, where possible. He also
suggested that sub-regional arrangements on the model of India- Sri
Lanka Free Trade Agreement needed to be taken for meaningful cooperation.
China, he urged, has to become an indispensable partner in this process.
India, China, Russia triangular cooperation could open up immeasurable
opportunities for the entire region, he opined. A
regional mechanism for coordination and harmonizing positions and policies
on these issues is a must for South-Asia in a highly complex and competitive
environment, he added. It was an imperative to consider the cost of
missed opportunities and move in a calibrated manner towards economic
cooperation if harmonious coexistence was the ultimate goal, he concluded. Prof. Lokesh Chandra, perceived that if India –Pakistan were
free and were not circumscribed by global concerns, a very positive
relationship could have evolved. To achieve globalization he lamented,
economic dominance and also political interference has become a day
to day phenomenon in the affairs of every
country. Drawing the attention of the participants to the Hegellian
equation; which had the following points. 1.
The state is absolute reason 2.
The state is the march of God in the world. 3.
The state has supreme right against the individual. 4.
The historical dialectic dictates the use of controlled conflict, He
asserted that the United States had used the plank of religion to justify
particular actions. He
went on “In 1832, this equation was
carried to the United States. The whole idea of skull and bones has
influenced international politics
and we are victims of globalization. The idea of the Hegellian equation
is manifest in the words of Bush in 2003- ‘God would have told me to
go and kill the terrorists.’ “ The
concept of clash of civilizations and inter-cultural conflicts is becoming
a part of globalization, he lamented. From
the conceptual, moving on to the South Asian region, he added, that
there was a tremendous amount of goodwill among the people of India
and Pakistan . “It
is this harmonization of power and globalization which is causing grave
problems and South Asia is not immune to it,” and further stated that
globalization needed to move from absolutism to homo-centricism, where
humanity is at the centre of all policies and formulations. India and
Pakistan, he underlined, have areas of convergence and divergence, and
areas of divergence have to be viewed as complementarities and not as
contradictions. Mr. K.T.S. Tulsi, former Solicitor General of India,
referring to the India-Pakistan relations, reinforced the fact that
Peace in the Neighborhood could not be achieved in the last 60 years
despite our similarities of common
language and heritage. Peace could also not be achieved, he observed,
despite the fact that our diplomats have made several positive gestures. “Corruption
in our polity is similar. Religious bigotry exists in both the countries.
After 60 years of independence, we have 40 % of the world’s poor. There
have been 75 billion dollar losses
of international trade because of terrorism in recent years; and a substantial
portion of the loss has been attributed to South Asia.” Stating
that it was very unfortunate that we are driven by hate, rather than
compassion and love, he dwelt on the need for such initiatives where
intellectuals, policymakers and diplomats freely exchange their views
and concerns, that such initiatives are held. Ms. Shalini Diwan, Director, UNIC, India, at the outset lauded the
Academy for having been formally recognized for its work through its
Association with the Department of Public Information, United Nations. Speaking
on the occasion of the International Peace Day, she stated that the
UN Charter that was signed on 26th June 1945 brought a new
principle of collective security and the goals of the Charter continue
to be relevant even today. In
her words, “The UN has now become a facilitator for social and economic
progress. UN peace-keeping and
peace building mechanisms are necessary to help countries establish
structures so that peace can be maintained. The United Nations strongly
believes that military force should not be used as far as possible.”
She also said that civil society initiatives are indispensable for assuring
the dignity of people and for promoting UN values. The
United Nations, she said was
appreciative of the work of NGOs and felt that civil society had a tremendous
responsibility, in helping to maintain Peace. She brought copies of
the Message of the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan for distribution
to the delegates. Mr. Afrasiab, Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan
asserted that India and Pakistan had moved forward in the Peace process
and this was visible through exchanges of cultural and academic delegations
as a result of which the reservoir of goodwill between both the countries
had tremendously increased. The people, he added, have always wanted
peace in the region, and he expressed optimism that post-Havana, the
peace process would further receive a fillip. Mr. Tenzin Rondel, second secretary in the Royal Bhutanese Embassy
said that the friendship of India and Bhutan, was a model which the
other countries in South Asia needed to emulate. He was of the firm
view that poverty was a root cause of misery and turmoil and if peace
needed to be realized poverty had to be alleviated. Prof. Syed Shahid Mehdi, former ViceChancellor Jamia Millia
Islamia, referring to the love-hate relationship among some of India’s
neighbours said that it has the big-brother concept entrenched in it. It
was important, he opined, that India and Pakistan be sensitive to the
smaller neighbours, and assign their concerns as much significance as
that assigned to India-Pakistan relations. He
suggested that academic initiatives be undertaken so as to inculcate
a greater understanding among the people. University level exchanges
and special Departments would help to build on the bilateral and multilateral
relationships, he concluded. Prof. Kapil Kumar, a well known historian from IGNOU,
in his very candid remarks,
brought out the need for a futuristic approach, without the flab of
the past. Political
jargons and clichés needed to be avoided. What was important, in his
opinion was the need for a change in the mindset. He
was of the firm conviction that economic cooperation cannot bring about
peace. “Despite the best of intellectual capabilities among the two
countries, there are several roadblocks on the path to peace”, and categorically
stated that historians, politicians and intellectuals should bridge
the gap between nations and not increase it. The
Seminar concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr.
Reena Marwah. The Special Message of
the UN Secretary General, Excellency Kofi Annan, was shared with the
Delegates Each of the participants pledged to
help in bringing about everlasting Peace. A minutes silence was observed in the
name of Peace and in memory of the victims of war in different countries.
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