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

82 Peace and Security Review Vol.1, No.2, Second Quarter, 2008
water dispute between India and Bangladesh so that it is defined as Hindu
attempt to subjugate Muslims in Bangladesh.
The power of this past has acted as the main fetter to yet another area ⎯
secular nationalism that had a hold in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the
late 70s. Seen as the most prominent shift in South Asian politics, this period
oversaw the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Prime minister of India at
the hand of Sikh militants, the demise of Bhutto, the populist, secular and
socialist Prime minister in Pakistan and the rise of military theocracy in
Pakistan. A similar trend was experienced by Bangladesh where a replacement
of ethnic nationalism by an alliance of military and theocracy ideally
sympathetic to Pakistan gained quite a momentum in the late 70s. The
sustainment of religious revival has given way to further tension between
the Hindus and the Muslims in all three nation states of South Asia such as
the incident surrounding Babri Mosque (1992), terrorist attack on Indian
parliament, Gujrat riot in India (2002), attack on train carrying Hindu pilgrims
(27 February 2002), deepening the scar of historical hatred. Uncompromisingly
aware of their doctrinal position this religiously motivated hostility, irreducible
in its nature, has turned South Asia into an arena of contested interests.
Hence, although expected to be a natural process between geographically
contiguous states and peoples, the task of getting countries closer into a
community of nations has become arduously difficult. The deep level of
integration characteristic of Europe has been attained by its reliance on a
common past derived from Enlightenment, which oversaw the emergence of
modernity, common system of governance, discourse of individual freedom
and the overbearing presence of liberalism ⎯ all contributing to an unified
European mind. South Asia too has a common history, yet its effort remains
constrained by the same past in an age described euphemistically as the
second phase of regionalism (Bhagwati, 1994).
III. PAINFUL ASYMMETRY: A THREAT TO REGIONAL
COHESION
A crucial point in regionalisation debate is the asymmetric nature of South
Asia. It begins with India, which occupies 85% of South Asia territorially and
contributes more than 90% to South Asia’s GDP. Compared to India most
other nation states lie on the fringe. This asymmetry is far more exposed in
terms of socio-economic and political reality of South Asian countries in
relation to India. Once a vastly underestimated country India has attained a
phenomenal economic success and is now a new regional powerhouse. Having
shrugged off its past policy of closed economy characterized by high planning
that many would identify with socialist slumber of the Nehru era, India has
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