Side-effect

The 11th annual conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, coincided with the immediate aftermath of the highly condemnable Mumbai terror attacks. Ironically it was titled "Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia." For the past ten years, scholars, practitioners and students from Pakistan and abroad debated ideas and options around multiple subjects within the overarching theme. Organisation of such events with consistency each year in Pakistan has to be widely appreciated. SDPI is one of the few independent institutions dedicated to research and analysis in Pakistan and facing the consequences of trying to create an island of knowledge in the sea of ignorance by not getting sufficient support. Perhaps the young, dynamic researcher, Dr Abid Suleri, who heads the institution, and his team need to shed their scholarly humility and cry out loud and challenge the consciousness of all stakeholders, telling them why institutions like SDPI need to be nurtured.

This year's conference included discussions varying from rewriting history to climate change in South Asia. Issues surrounding military tensions, trade imbalances and cultural cooperation were highlighted within the caucuses or over coffee breaks and lunches. There was an earnest desire in all present to have a peaceful South Asia where people could live peacefully and prosper economically. The premise of Partition was to bring peace to the Indian Subcontinent, not to enter into a perpetual conflict. Problems in thinking and approach lie on both sides of the border since the very beginning. As usual, continued friction makes the common people suffer the most. Warmongering, heightening tension, sensationalising events, levelling allegations, etc., makes it a field day for hawks on both sides. The adrenalin level is so high among so-called experts in Pakistan serving narrow-minded interests that it makes them think they are the descendants of Afghan invaders

of yesteryears who would have the final battle in Panipat. On the Indian side, there is a barge of unproven allegations against Pakistan and half-cooked evidences being aired from television channels and printed through newspapers whipping up the emotions of their audiences.

Pakistanis need to realise at all levels--state and non-state actors, civil society and media--that India is our immediate neighbour, and the country with which we share our lives and culture the most. We belong to South Asia--neither Central Asia nor the Middle East. Indians have to come to terms with the fact that Pakistan should not be pressured into becoming a compliant, denuclearised state serving as a consumer market to the Mittals, Tatas, Birlas and Bajajs. A strong, democratic and friendly Pakistan would suit India more and bring prosperity to the region. The divide is kept illuminated by the terror attacks on both sides, both real and perceived support to insurgencies within each other's countries and, more recently, by not being able to address water disputes in time. Both countries are marred by poverty, hunger, injustice, a caste- and class-ridden social fabric and religious frenzy. If we start thinking in terms of the working classes and marginalised millions in both countries, the approach towards solving mutual disputes would thoroughly change.

The last part of the book that I jointly wrote with my Indian friend Rohini Kohli includes Anna Akhmatova's poem, "Why is this age worse…?"

Why is this age worse than earlier ages? / In a stupor of grief and dread / have we not fingered the foulest wounds / and left them unhealed by our hands? / In the West the falling light still glows, / and the clustered housetops glitter in the sun, / but here death is already chalking the doors with crosses, / and calling the ravens and the ravens are flying in.



The writer is an Islamabad-based poet and rights campaigner. Email: harris@spopk.org