Peace and Security Review, Vol.1 No. 2 - International Centre for ...

Badrul A. Khan South Asia and Regionalism 81
unity is virtually paralysed by it, giving way to a situation which may only be
described in terms of civilization clash between the Hindu and the Muslim
communities.
In a narrower sense, this twisted history often permeates specific forms
of hostilities that have typically earned binary form of disjuncture. Irreducible
in its potency its impact has allowed a redefining of independence beyond its
political category, perhaps transforming the notion of liberation into an
indefinable psychology of hatred and hence, a permanent source of revisiting
and reinventing. As a result, many fault lines have appeared “breaking up
centuries of old social order in which communities lived in mutual coexistence”
(Tan and Kudaisya, 2000:8). Just like medieval Europe, today’s South Asia is
riddled with internal borders once defined by German philosopher Fichte in
his Reden an die deutsche Nation (Balibar, 2002) as “inner borders” (innere
Grenzen). In this design Pakistan remains internally divided by the presence
of a large Hindu and Sikh population including Muslim refugees from India
known as Muhajirs, “an estranged minority in the land of their adaptation”
whose position remains downgraded. A similar picture can be drawn for
India and Bangladesh where Muslims and Hindus live within numerous
mutual borders separating each minority religious group from the majority.
The slaughter of half a million people from either of the sides and the largest
human displacement during the partition in 1947 that history has accounted
for have allowed this division to remain animated and internalised as irreducible
and permanent and remains a difficult act both for the Muslims and the
Hindus.
More importantly, these internal borders influence state institutions as
well as human communication, cultural symbols, spiritual world and above
all, physical borders. The peculiar psychology of division and accompanying
hatred controls human movement, defines ethical and moral standpoints of
individuals, and national security issues. As a result, religions, which had
once provided unity and integrity to the region (Islam, Hinduism and
Buddhism), have turned into a corrosive and divisive force. Various pockets
of conflict that South Asia is riddled with find legitimation in the name of
religion. Non-cooperation between nations in promoting normative projects
such as regional organisation, free trade, collective self-reliance, and common
security is influenced by the social and political wreckage carried over from
this tumultuous past. Kashmir issue separates the two states of India and
Pakistan and has led them to war three times since independence in 1947.
The dismembering of Pakistan from its Eastern part, now Bangladesh, also
had India’s support and nuclear showdown with nuclear bombs is named as
Islamic or Hindu bombs. This carried over hatred is also manifested in the
Vol.1, No.2 2008 pp.77-93