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IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM ON SECURITY OF SOUTH ASIA
ADMIRAL L. RAMDAS
Chief of Naval Staff (Retired), Indian Armed Forces
New Delhi, India
If we are to make progress, we must not repeat history but make new history. We must add to the inheritance left by our
ancestors. If we may make new discoveries and inventions in the phenomenal world, must we declare our bankruptcy in the spiritual domain? Is it possible to multiply the exceptions so as to make them the rule? Must
man always be brute first and man after, if at all? - Gandhi writing in Young India, May 6 1926
INTRODUCTION
Most of us, including myself, have tended to use September 11, 2001 as a benchmark
whilst evaluating terrorism and attempting to forecast the trends of the security environment for the future. The problem is infinitely more complex, given the many layers of developments on the international scene
over the past half century, and no discussion of the role of religion and religious extremism can be complete without reference to the larger external environment and a series of significant developments over the
past century.
Major developments during this period include:
Two world wars - each one seen as ‘the war to end all wars’
The use of the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Freedom struggles, the end of the colonial era, and the emergence of new nation states
The expansion of the ‘Nuclear Club ‘– (USSR, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel?) and the
phenomena of the Cold War
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent withdrawal
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war
The mushrooming of many ethnic, religious and other conflicts
The yet unresolved demand for a Palestinian State
The India Pakistan face-off over Kashmir
The other most
important development during this period has been the Information Technology Revolution, which has dramatically impacted the behavior of people.
Most of us have become prisoners of that wonderful tool called
the computer which has almost entirely taken over our lives and eroded the finer aspects of humanness, human behavior and understanding.
Synthetic and clinical analyses set forth by digital technologies have
left the all-important human element in the background. Some of the decisions as a result of over-dependence on modern technologies have contributed a good deal towards a continuing thirst and thrust for materialism
and money. Globalization, and the restructuring of the world’s trading patterns, are but manifestations of this desire.
THE COLD WAR AND AFTER
One of the other major fallouts of the cessation of
the Cold War has been the emergence of the United States as the lone ‘Super Power,’ which has given rise to unbridled materialism as well as unilateralism. This has hugely impacted the conduct of the world's affairs
and has been both dynamic and devastating — dynamic in style rather than in content, and devastating because of its myopic construct.
Just as we need a good opposition within a country to make a democracy
vibrant and effective, so too in the international arena we need a good opposition, single or multilateral, to checkmate the rise of too much unilateralism. The law of nature is such that this is bound to happen
sooner than we think. The question is whether it will happen by demonstrating grace and wisdom on the part of the strong and the wealthy, and in a peaceful manner, or will it happen through violence? One does not
need to provide statistics to show how 80 percent of the world’s resources are consumed by 20 percent of the crust of world society, leaving the crumbs for the 80 percent to fight over. Clearly this kind of
imbalance has to be addressed frontally if we are to bring about a transition from the current situation to a genuinely more democratic and sustainable new world order.
The end of colonialism resulted in the
emergence of a number of new nations, including the partition of lands and peoples, sowing thereby the seeds of eternal conflict in the future. Africa, the Middle East and South Asia clearly illustrate this
phenomenon. Wars and conflicts have arisen due to cultural, ethnic, linguistic, political, economic, social, and last, but not the least, religious grounds, in every part of the world. These have further given rise
to ‘Fundamentalisms’ of every conceivable kind — they range from the material and monopolistic trends of wealthy nations under the banner of ‘capitalism,’ ‘corporate culture’ and ‘the market,’ to the other extreme
of feudalism, religious extremism and fanaticism. Neither of these fundamentalist extremes has shied away from using violence to meet their ends. Nor is religious fundamentalism exclusive to any single religion or
grouping, although recent trends, led by the USA post September 11, and happily followed by those for whom it is convenient, have done serious damage to Islam by virtually treating all terrorism as Islamic terrorism
or Islamic fundamentalism.
This is not the time for a more in depth examination of the above developments. However these need to be kept in focus as we look at how they have impacted the global security scene
and specifically in nuclear-weaponised South Asia.
RECENT TRENDS AND THE SITUATION IN SOUTH ASIA TODAY
Since December 2001, we have been witnessing a situation where two powerful armies are
facing each other across a long and volatile border between India and Pakistan. The use of the clichéd term ‘eyeball to eyeball’ conceals the real and manifest dangers of keeping men and lethal weapons at the ready
for such a long period of time, with rhetoric growing shriller with each incident and every passing month. The record of events in the recent past makes for interesting reading — although the selection of the date
of the nuclear test by India in 1998 is an arbitrary cut off point.
May 1998 – Nuclear tests by India and Pakistan
February 1999 – Signing of the Lahore Declaration
April-May 1999 – Kargil Conflict
October 1999 – Military rule returns to Pakistan Gen Musharraf takes over in a bloodless coup
July 2001 – the Agra Summit
Sept 11 2001 – Terrorist strikes on the WTC in New York, and at the Pentagon in Washington DC
India and Pakistan muscle in for patronage and favors from the USA — with both countries joining the bandwagon of
the ‘War on Terrorism’
Dec 13 2001 – attack on Indian Parliament heralds dramatic setback in Indo–Pakistan relations and movement of troops by both sides. Real threat of war, including likely use of nuclear
weapons felt all round.
International community steps in — principal role by USA.
Gen Musharraf yields under extreme US and Western pressure and agrees to stop ‘cross border infiltration’ on a
permanent basis. Currently the situation is slightly improved, but armies still face each other. Possible conflict between the two neighbors cannot yet be written off.
GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
Given the above immediate context, let us examine briefly the phenomenon of different kinds of religious extremism in the region — flagging the fact that all forms of extremism and fundamentalism also arise out
of specific historical and material contexts, which must be taken into account.
Pakistan and Afghanistan
Given the fact that since the attack on the World Trade Center global focus has been on the
Taliban, Al Qaeda and Afghanistan, let us begin with a brief recap of the rise of fundamentalism and the Talibanisation of the region.
Religious extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan gained ground during the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when the Taliban was born. Of course the all-pervading and stark poverty provided the basic breeding ground for the rise of an ideology that promised identity and solutions, as also
for the creation of thousands of madrassas — feeder establishments for the young Talibans, mainly located in Pakistan. These continue till today, although it must be pointed out that in the process the institution
of the ‘madrassa,’ which need not in any way be a school for terrorists, has also been given a bad name.
Convergence of strategic interests of both Pakistan and the US, at the time, facilitated this
development: Pakistan, for its perceived notion of improving its strategic depth, and the US for its global strategic requirement of being the only super-power. It is also well- documented that intelligence agencies
of both countries played an active role in designing, implementing and sustaining the arrangement for as long as it was convenient.
Without laboring the point as to who was responsible for its emergence,
suffice it to say that this later provided the cradle for the growth of both the Taliban and the Al Qaeda movements. From here emerged also some of the militants who were to join the ‘jehad’ for the liberation of
Indian–held Kashmir. It was the abandonment of Afghanistan by the USA after the Russian withdrawal that led to the growth of Al Qaeda within Afghanistan, and its subsequent spread worldwide. Erstwhile friends and
allies had now turned into enemies. The promise of a better future denied, combined with the growing frustration with Western (largely US) policy toward Muslim states, ultimately led to a series of attacks on
Western assets, culminating in the strike on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept 11 2001. The rest is modern history.
RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM IN INDIA
Let us also look briefly at the
extraordinary phenomenon of the growth of religious fundamentalism within India and within Hinduism over the same period. Here, too, there is need to delve into and understand the historical genesis of the creation
of several nations out of the erstwhile undivided British India, and the role of the colonial power in creating the divisions based on religion, among other factors.
The subsequent Partition of India based
on the (insidious to many) theory that Muslims and Hindus constituted two different ‘nations’, has, in fact, laid the foundation for the endless and bitter strife between the neighbors who essentially share the same
heritage and a common history. The Kashmir problem is the most visible manifestation of this deeper malaise.
The concept of ‘Hindutva’ was the brainchild of the founding fathers of the movement for Hindu
Nationalism like Golwalkar of the RSS, Vir Savarkar of the Hindu Mahasabha, and others, and originated in some of the policies of the infamous colonial policy of ‘divide and rule,’ long before Partition and
Independence in 1947. However, in the early post-independence years in India, a solid constitutional commitment to secularism, pluralism and democracy, vigilantly championed by the first few generations of leaders,
especially from the erstwhile Nationalist Congress, was maintained and nurtured.
However, with the fraying of a middle-of-the-road party over the years; the failure of the left to establish roots across the
country; and the overall inability of the leadership to come to grips with some of the fundamental contradictions and problems of a large, poor and diverse population, a political space was created which the
rightwing Hindu nationalist groups were able to capture through an ideology which they call Hindutva, and claim that it is derived from Hinduism and has the well-being and interests of the largely Hindu majority at
heart. Today we are seeing the sway of opportunistic politics astutely combined with the most populist form of religion.
The extremist Hindu groups in India are comprised mainly of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, and Shiva Sena. The government in power today led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has close links with the above organizations collectively referred
to as the Sangh Parivar. (Of course, it must be said in passing that India is also home to some Muslim extremist groups like SIMI, with links to pan-Islamic movements.)
The Hindutva movement got a special
fillip, when a ‘rath yatra’ (a pilgrimage of temple chariots), was undertaken by Shri L.K. Advani, then president of the BJP in 1992. This was a clever deployment of the ‘religious card’ for political mobilization.
Unfortunately feelings were whipped up and passions were aroused amongst the Hindu extremist groups, resulting in the demolition on December 6, 1992, of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, in the north Indian State of
Uttar Pradesh. The extremist Hindu groups claimed that this mosque was built by Babar, the Moghul king, on the site of an existing Hindu temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama, an important deity for Hindus. The
destruction of the mosque certainly marks a tragic landmark in the chronology of Hindu–Muslim relations in India and the region.
RIGHT WING NATIONALISM, MILITARISM AND THE NUCLEAR BOMB
The BJP
did indeed make dramatic improvements in their representation in the Indian Parliament, and came to power in a coalition government in 1998. The BJP’s election manifesto was greatly influenced by the ‘Sangh
Parivar,’ which had clearly subscribed to the acquisition of the nuclear weapon. As far back as the early 50s, the Jana Sangh, which was the forerunner of the present day BJP, had also championed the cause of going
nuclear. The nuclear bomb was considered to be a visible symbol of power, strength and militarism, and especially of a resurgent Hindu nationalism.
Although the first nuclear test was conducted in 1974 by
the Congress Government, headed by Indira Gandhi, it was within a stated policy of not going in for nuclear weaponisation. They were quite clear that they would propagate and promote global nuclear disarmament
(Rajiv Gandhi's proposal at the UN in June 9, 1988).
The present government changed all that with the Pokhran Tests on May 11, 1998; virtually forcing Pakistan into following suit with its tests at Chhagai on
May 28, 1998. Both countries now had openly declared themselves to be nuclear weapons states, and proudly trumpeted their intentions to weaponise. Once again, clever use was made of the links between religion,
power, nationalism and national pride, thereby creating a wave of apparent popular support for nuclear weapons. Indeed many people called India’s bomb, the ‘Hindu Bomb,’ while the one across the border was referred
to as the ‘Islamic Bomb.’
POLITICAL REVERSES FOR THE RULING BJP GOVERNMENT AND TRAGIC FALLOUT FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
Religious discrimination against minority groups and minority sects has
been going on in various parts of both countries ever since Partition. However, given that there are many and larger percentages of minorities in India, with the Muslim population in fact being second only to that
of Indonesia, the conditions for serious flare-ups and violence and hatred to be unleashed are also that much greater. The most recent manifestation of this was seen in the state-sponsored genocide of Muslims in the
state of Gujarat in western India. This state continues to be led by a chief minister from the extremist Hindu right wing, who is also a member of the RSS.
Every time there is a setback for the BJP in
elections in one state, there is a tendency to fall back on the hard line ideology of Hindutva — with predictable insecurity for and attacks on minorities, especially in areas where the lumpen elements from both
sides are mobilized by the respective religio–political formations.
DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN, THE KASHMIR QUESTION, AND THE POSSIBILTY OF NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION — COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
We see
here the constant interplay between domestic politics and foreign policy postures. In India there is a constant (triumphalist?) reference to the lack of democracy in Pakistan, and a tendency to ride high on the
increasingly tough positions being adopted towards the Pakistani support to terrorist camps and cross–border terrorism by the USA and other Western powers.
The entire issue of Kashmir is also interwoven
both with historical baggage and hard positions taken over the years, because of which no leadership in either country can afford to be seen as ‘soft’ or yielding to the other. The basic question of whether or not
the state should be partitioned on the basis of religion to a large extent determines the positions of both sides.
And looming over it all, and the primary reason for the resurgence of interest in the region,
is, of course, the real and present danger in the shape of extremely high levels of troop mobilization over several months on the borders. There is a high possibility indeed of this escalating into actual
hostilities, and from there into nuclear exchange, with catastrophic implications for not only the two countries, but for the region as a whole. For all the pronouncements of nuclear doctrines and ‘nofirst use,’ the
reality is that the command and control systems on both sides are primitive to say the least, thereby, adding an even more dangerous dimension to the entire situation.
ROAD MAP, SIGN POSTS FOR PEACE, AND
THOUGHTS ON FOREIGN POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR THE USA
At one level, the heightened concern for the situation obtaining between India and Pakistan, as manifest in the unending chain of high-level political
visits to the region over the last ten months, is cause for some comfort. Peace making and mediation (even though India is allergic to the phrase), have been at their most intense in a long while — both
international and national — governmental and non-governmental.
On Kashmir itself — which has been successfully internationalized thanks to the string of recent events — there have been several
well-considered road maps suggested; conceivably it would be possible to find a way forward. In the short term, it might perhaps work out that with US ‘facilitation’ the three parties to the conflict; the Kashmiri
people, Pakistan and India, can be brought to the table and an interim solution worked out (see my articles in The Hindu, “A Road Map for Peace,” June 2002, and “More Signposts for Peace,” July 2002).
The
more serious question to be raised in the context of the current global reality of the US being the only super-power and in the position of taking decisions unilaterally, is how the USA will wield this power in the
coming period of time. There are several fundamental, underlying issues which those who seek to explore the linkages between religion, culture, economic power of the market, the arms industry and the role of
unipolar power, would do well to address.
To quote a recent article — an editorial in a journal of Philosophy — the pressures of unipolarity continue to undermine the emergence of a multipolar world and
plurality of thoughts. And again
When our circumscribed logical minds are confronted with problems that become too big to approach, they lose their depth, and seek easy solutions through super-violence or the
visible, without examining the deep underlying causes of our maladies. We continue to talk of peace yet keep starting wars.
Dare one ask and seek honestly to answer the question whether it is ultimately in
the business interests of what someone recently termed “The Armament Protected Consumerism,” to in fact ensure that we talk peace in all earnest, but keep some fires burning, so that the peacemakers are accompanied
often on the same visit by another official seeking to sell the latest weapon or sensor?
In the same vein, we will need honestly to unpack and demystify the increasing power and spread of globalization as a
culture and an economic juggernaut, which carries within itself the seeds of destruction of all that stands in the way of its greed and need to grow bigger at the cost of both humanity and nature.
Maybe it
is time for foreign policy discourse to address some of these themes — above all the link between what could be termed ‘Religious Exclusivism, Colonialism and Racism,’ which in turn is a close ally of excessive
‘Materialism and Militarism.’ (From Journal of World Affairs, Vol VI, no. I).
A combination of any or all of these forms of exclusivism — dividing humanity into believers and non-believers — be it in one
religion or one economic model; is itself sowing the seeds of violence and disharmony. Therefore it opens up an endless ocean of challenging all forms of inherited wisdom and knowledge.
The foreign policy
positions of a country like the US are profoundly linked with its own economic, religious and industrial worldviews. In the ultimate analysis, and given the kind of power equations prevailing, the role of the US as
the ringmaster in the peace arena is clear. Any one occupying a position of such power should also be able to demonstrate an ability and willingness to reflect on the vast and complex area of historical, cultural,
religious, scientific and ecological realities, which make up our unique world. And if she were able to open up this kind of discourse without the tendency to be a powerbroker, truly the United States of America
might be able to occupy a place in history.
I would like to end with a quotation from the Isha-Upanishad which the great Nobel Laureate poet from India, Rabindranath Tagore, quoted while addressing Harvard
University in 1913: Speaking about Sadhana, or the realization of life, he says that
True realization of God, or of the infinite, is not like one object among many, to be definitely classified and kept among
our possessions, to be used as an ally specially favouring us in our politics, warfare, money-making, or in social competitions!
On the contrary we need to remember,
Tena tyaktena bhunjithaq ma
gridhah kasyasviddhanam (Translation: Enjoy whatever is given by him and harbour not in your mind the greed for wealth which is not your own.)
Om Shanti,Shanti,Shanti (Translation: Peace, Peace, Peace)
BIOGRAPHY:
Admiral Laxinarayan (Ramu) Ramdas, New Delhi, India, former Chief of Staff for the Indian Navy, speaks and
writes on Indo-Pak relations and nuclear matters. He chairs the Indian chapter of the Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy and actively campaigns for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Admiral
Ramdas is well respected by his colleagues and the main stream political establishment in India.
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