South asia challenges threats and trends contact saarc iii dec 2011

South Asia
Challenges, Threats and Trends
Dr. Mansi Mehrotra

December 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal,
CONTACT‐SAARC‐III

PURPOSE
To understand the South Asian kaleidoscope
(from Greek kalos beautiful + eidos form + ‐SCOPE)


What are the elements that defines
your Ethnic Community?
Ethnicity is a sense of belonging to a particular
group that distinguishes them from others in
social, cultural, language, religion, region, history,
genetic, economic, customs, place of residence
and traditional orientation.

The membership to such exclusive group gives its
members material and social advantages along
with psychological support.


INTERVIEW EACH OTHER
(Find your partner sitting on your Right)

• What does your partner like about her/his
ethnic community? (INDIVIDUALLY)

• What does you partner dislike about her/his
community? (INDIVIDUALLY)

• What are some of the common stories your
ethnic communities share? (AS A PAIR)

LANGUAGE
• Language is a central feature of human
identity. When we hear someone speak, we
immediately make guesses about gender,
education level, age, profession, and place of
origin. Beyond this individual matter, a
language is a powerful symbol of national and
ethnic identity. (Spolsky, 1999, p. 181)


Language Identity Crises
• Pakistan
– National language is Urdu which is the native language of only about 7% of country’s population
• Nepal
– Nepal Bhasha Movement 1909 after Khas was renamed “Nepali” and Nepali bhasa was
“Newari” in 1905
• Bangladesh
– Bengali Language Movement (21st Feb)
• Sri Lanka
– Official Language Act No.33 1956
• India
– 1952, Telugu Movement by Congress leader Sriramalu 56 day fast. 1953 Andhra Pradesh
Created
– 1964, use of English language to cease (TN, WB, Karnataka, AP and Pondicherry)
– Anti‐Hindi feelings by Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navniman Sena
– There are also odd examples. In Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland, India’s three Christian‐
majority states in the North‐East, the languages used for official purposes are Hindi, and
English (link language), and not the languages spoken by the people in those states.


RELIGION
• “Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne
connaît point. (The heart has its reasons that
reason does not know at all). Les Pensées,
(Thoughts) Blaise Pascal, 1665
• Religion is often used to justify conflict, and
becomes a source of conflict, even though
most religions of the world emphasize
peaceful coexistence and tolerance.


• Afghanistan
Religious Intolerance
– March 2000, Taliban destroyed the Bahamian statues
• Pakistan
– Small Christian minority has periodically been targeted since Pakistan became a US ally in the so‐called War on Terror.
– Red Mosque crisis
– Attacks on Ahmadis, Hindus and Shiites
– Pakistani authorities shut down 156 radio stations for operating illegally and for “fanning sectarian hatred and anti‐state feelings” in
western tribal areas
– Blasphemy laws alienate both moderate Muslims and non‐Muslims
– Hudood Ordianace requires strict adherence to Muslim practices and blatantly discriminate against non‐Muslims in the court of law
– The Federal Sharia Court (FSC) ensures that all legislative acts and judicial pronouncements, including those of the Supreme Court,
are compatible with Islamic law.
• India
– Anti Sikh Riots 1984
– Ethnic Cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits
– Religious involvement in North‐East India Militancy
– Anti‐Muslim Violence
– Anti‐Christian Violence
– Anti‐Hindu Violence
• Nepal
– Christian and Muslim Religious minorities are attacked
– On May 23, 2009, a bomb attack against Lalitpur's Catholic Church of the Assumption, claimed by the NDA. Days later, the NDA
issued a call for all Christians to leave Nepal.
• Bhutan
– It is illegal to convert someone from the country's two predominant religions, Buddhism and Hinduism
– Government has limited non‐Buddhist missionary activity, barring non‐Buddhist missionaries from entering the country, limiting
construction of non‐Buddhist religious buildings, and restricting the celebration of some non‐Buddhist religious festivals.

• Bangladesh
– Religious minorities, especially Hindus and Ahmadiyyas, face
manifold problems.
– Religious minorities are readily attacked by the influential and
politically powerful, enjoying absolute impunity many of them
while performing their rituals.
– In many places, houses, businesses and religious properties have
been taken or destroyed. Girls and women belonging to religious
minorities have been raped for reason of their beliefs.
• Sri Lanka
– flag of Śri Lankān
– Arrest of Sarah Malathi Perera for her book “From darkness to
light: Questions and Answers”
• Maldives
– According to the former President Maumoon Abdul Gavoom, no
religion other than Islam should be allowed in the Maldives.


ETHNO‐REGIONAL IDENTITIES
If we institutionally define a nation‐state as a
set of reciprocal economic, military, and even
social rights and obligations, it becomes
obvious that a modern nation‐state is as much
a state of mind as a geographic entity” Louis
Depree


Regional Divide in SA
• Sri Lanka India
• Jharkahand Movement
• Uttrakhand
• Gorkhaland
• Bodoland
• Ladakh
• The Northeast
• Magadh, Bhojpuri Pradesh, Angika Pradesh,
• Bajjika Pradesh and
• Seemanchal from Bihar,
• Udayachal, and Kamatapur from Assam,
• Braj Pradesh and Rohilkhand from UP,
• Malwa from MP,
• Mewar from Rajasthan and
• Kuchh and Saurastra from Gujarat
• Maharashrtra,MP, AP, UP and Bihar
(Vidarbha, Bundelkand, Telangana, Vindhya Pradesh,
Mahakaushal, Purvanchal, Harit Pradesh and
Mithilanchal)

Pakistan
Time Group Location Description

1947‐48 Baloch Kalat and First Baloch insurgency of Abdul Karim Khan against forcible annexation of Balochistan
surroundings into Pakistan
1947‐48 Pashtun NWFP Reaction to dismissal of Dr. Khan’s nationalist government
1958‐63 Baloch Baloch countryside Resistance against one‐unit scheme, distant identity
1950s Pashtun NWFP Resistance against one‐unit scheme, afghan irredentist movement. But at the same time
Dr. Khan accepted the offer of central government and became Chief minister of West
Pakistan
1973‐77 Baloch Baloch tribal areas of Baloch insurgency against central government on the dismissal of nationalist regime.
Marri‐Mengal This war involved more than 80,000 Pakistani troops and some 55,000 Baloch guerrillas
(Harrison, 1981). The insurgency ended after the over throw of Bhutto by Zia‐ul‐Haq.
1973‐74 Pashtun NWFP Resignation of elected government as a protest against central
governments interference in provincial matters of Balochistan and
NWFP
1980s Sindhis Rural Sindh Movement for the Restoration of Democracy

1980s Mohajirs Urban Sindh Killings in Karachi

2002‐? Baloch Baloch countryside Baloch resistance movement: a response to marginalisation,
demands for distributive justice

• Nepal
– Three ecological regions are: (i) the Mountain, (ii) the Hills, and (iii) the Tarai
– Politically five development regions by the Panchayat rulers (i) Eastern Development Region, (ii)
Central Development Region, (iii) Western Development Region, (iv) Mid‐Western Development
Region, and (v) Far‐Western Development Region.

SOCIO‐ECONOMIC GROUPS
“There is no caste in blood.” Edwin Arnold


GROUP EXERCISE
Talk to people on your own table


ECONOMIC SECURITY
• Poverty and income inequality
• Food security
• Employment security
• Impact of privatisation on economic security
• Globalisation and economic security


HEALTH AND HUMAN SECURITY
• Health security
• Spread of infectious diseases
• Causes of health security


ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY
• Water security
• Air pollution
• Energy security and environmental impact
• Deforestation
• Natural and man‐made disasters
• Environmental Security in South Asia‐some
initiatives


CONFLICT AND HUMAN SECURITY
• Conflicts between the states in South Asia
• Militarisation: protection or threat to Human
Security
• Nuclearisation in South Asia: A deterrent or a
threat to human security
• Armed conflicts, arms transfers and human
security

‐‐‐cont.‐‐‐


CONFLICT AND HUMAN SECURITY
• Internal conflicts
• Refugees
• Cost of
conflict
Human cost
Women
Economic cost
Refugee


Security of Women

Manipuri women protests nude on 15 july 2004 in front of The Assam Rifles
against the rape and killing of Manorama by 17 AR Photograph of Aisha

Women harassed by the Police in
Bangladesh

Gender Equality and Empower Women
Share of women in non‐agricultural
wage employment, 1990 & 2004 (in
%)
6.6
Pakistan
8.6

12.7
Nepal
17.3

17.6
Bangladesh
23.1 1990
31.1
2004
Maldives
35.6

39.1
Sri Lanka
43.2

0 20 40 60
13
S.Asia 18

38
East Asia & Pacific 39

39
Latin America & Caribean 43

46
Europe & C.Asia 46

0 50

Security of Children

More than a third of the
world’s child brides are from
India

In Afghanistan almost 1,800
children have been killed or injured
in conflict‐related violence from
September 2008 to September
2010


Child mortality
Under‐five mortality rate per Under‐five mortality rate per
1,000 live births, 1990 and 2004 1,000 live births, 1990 and 2004
260
Afghanistan 1.7% of target
257
achieved 188
87 Sub‐Saharan Africa 13.6% of target
171
achieved
63
130
Pakistan 33.5% of target
101
achieved 43
129
S.Asia 43% of target achieved 92
123
43
India 46.3% of target achieved 85
41

145
1990 CEE/CIS & Baltic States 44.4% of target
54
38
Nepal 71.4% of target achieved 76 achieved
48 2004 18

Bangladesh 72.5% of target
77
149 2015 M.East & N.Africa 46.3% of target
81
56
achieved 50 achieved
27

166
Bhutan 77.7% of Target achieved 80 58
55 E.Asia & Pacific 56.9% of target achieved 36
199
32
Sri Lanka 84.4% of Target
14
achieved 11 54
Latin America & Caribbean 63.9% of
31
target achieved
111 18
Maldives 87.8% of Target
46
achieved 37

December 2011, Kathmandu, Nepal, 0 50 100 150 200 250
0 100 200 300 CONTACT‐SAARC‐III

Percentage of children of primary school age
out of school, total and by sex 2000‐03
Education Bhutan
46.7
52
49.3

32.4
Pakistan 39.3
46.6
Out of school males (as % of
22.3 total primary school age males)
Net enrolment in primary Nepal 31.6
26.8

education India
4.3

11.4
19
Out of school females (as % of
total primary school age
females)
11.2
Bangladesh 8.8
10 Total out of school children(%
of total primary school age
Afghanistan 27 3
population)
54
Maldives 1.9
2.5
Pakistan 33.4
52
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Nepal 64
84
41.3
India 89.7 2000‐2005 West & C.Africa
45.3
49.3

Maldives 86.7
89.7 1990‐91 Eastern and S.Africa
37.8
39.1
38.5
Bangladesh 71
93.8
22.3
South Asia 29.9
Sri Lanka 90 26
97.1
15.4
M.East & N.Africa 22.1
18.7
0 100 200
10.5
Central and E.Europe/CIS 12.9
11.7

6.1
Latin America & Caribbean 5.3
5.7

5.6
E.Asia & Pacific 5.8
5.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND
HUMAN SECURITY
• Nexus between human security and
governance
• The sate of governance
• The failure of institutions
• Economic governance and human security


What can change relation between
countries?
• Dangers of "Single Story" (Media)
• People‐to‐people Contact
• Resolving Border issue
• Removal of border restrictions
• Identity cards and legal migration
• Economic, Trade and Financial Connectivity
• Road, rail and air connectivity
• Internet and mobile connectivity
• Water management
• Power sharing
• Interdependence not isolation or exclusion
• Checking Terrorism CONTACT‐SAARC‐III

South asia challenges threats and trends contact saarc iii dec 2011

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