DISMANTLING PREJUDICE -THE JOURNEY TO A PEOPLE BASED PEACE STRATEGY

By Admiral LAXMINARAYAN RAMDAS President, Emeritus,
Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, Bangalore, India
Presented at the 2004 Magsaysay Awardees’ Lecture Series
Magsaysay Center, Manila, 27 August 2004

“Three fourths of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world will disappear, if we step into the shoes of the adversaries and understand their standpoint” - Mahatma Gandhi

Introduction

People all over the world had looked forward to the new millennium ushering in a dawn of peace and happiness. Alas that was not to be, for barely had we entered the new century that we found ourselves in the now familiar crucible of conflicts and conflagrations. New York 9/11, followed by war on Afghanistan, Iraq, the continuing Palestine/Israeli clashes and last but not the least the ethnic wars in the African continent, seem to have overshadowed the other long standing rivalry between India and Pakistan - the two main adversaries of South Asia.

South Asia too witnessed a face off between India and Pakistan after the attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 India suspended all means of communications including flying rights over Indian airspace. The situation worsened rapidly and war seemed imminent, with the danger of it escalating to a nuclear exchange. Fortunately, wiser counsel prevailed and the forces withdrew to peace locations by the autumn of 2002.

Whilst all this was happening the members of the Pakistan India Peoples Forum went about their task of regaining lost ground, making their presence felt in a number of ways--candle light vigils, marches, public meetings urging for restraint and so on. We continued to meet with each other by transiting the long and costly way via Dubai to keep contact with our friends. Fortunately after the elections in the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir, and some form of normalcy returning there, the olive branch was held out by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. A.B.Vajpayee to resume talks with Pakistan. Slowly but surely public pressure had made the difference. The subsequent developments will be discussed later.

The Aim of this Paper

The aim of this paper is to examine how long-held prejudices play havoc with all types of relationships. Be it personal, domestic, within a community, nationally, and last but not the least internationally. The paper also shares the experience of the slow but steady progress made by the Pakistan India Peoples Forum, in chiseling away some of these prejudices and to highlight the processes employed by us to evolve a people-based strategy for peace both locally and globally.

The Historical Backdrop

British India was divided into India and Pakistan in 1947 as part of the decolonisation process. The eastern wing of Pakistan emerged as the new nation called Bangladesh in 1971. It was not the first time that the world witnessed the creation of new nation states and boundaries by the victors of wars or Imperial forces. The creation of Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Israel, and elsewhere in Africa, are other examples of this strategy. There is fair amount of scholarly agreement that partition occurred not because Hindus and Muslims could not live together, but because the elites of the two communities could not agree to power sharing. Jinnah’s Muslim league won the day and partition came about. The greatest tragedy was that the deciding feature of this division was based on religion. It is to be noted that except for those who shifted within the provinces of Punjab and Bengal, only one in every twelve Muslims from the rest of India chose to go to Pakistan. This explains why today India is the second largest Muslim country in the world after Indonesia.

At the time of partition of the country, the rulers of nearly five hundred odd princely states which were directly under the British, were advised to join either India or Pakistan, keeping in mind proximity, the demographic profile and other factors. Most states were integrated into either India or Pakistan. However, there were a couple of states which had a problem. Hyderabad which was ruled by a Muslim Nizam had mainly a very large Hindu population, but geographically it was completely surrounded by India. Likewise the state of Jammu and Kashmir( J&K) had a Hindu Maharajah, but majority of its people were Muslims except that unlike Hyderabad both India and Pakistan had contiguous boundaries. Whilst both these states sat on the fence for quite a while before opting for India or Pakistan, the issue of Hyderabad was settled by a short and swift police action that resulted in Hyderabad’s merger with India. Jammu and Kashmir was attacked by a large number of tribesmen supported by regular Pakistani troops in 1947-48 whilst the Maharajah sat on the fence. When Pakistani regulars and tribesmen were within gunshot of Srinagar the capital of J&K, the Maharajah sought India’s assistance in exchange for acceding to India. Subsequent events resulted in a ceasefire along the actual ground positions which over the years and despite two and a half wars, has more or less remained the same. One part to the west and north is under Pakistani control and the eastern part including the valley is in India’s control. The divider being called the Line of Control which was delineated soon after the Simla Agreement was concluded in 1972. Pakistan attempted to integrate the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir by force in 1947, 1965, 1999 - Kargil failed each time and this has left the issue unresolved to this day which has been the primary cause for conflicts between the two countries.

To help us understand the overall picture more clearly some major events in Indo-Pak relations have been tabulated below. Likewise some of the Peoples Forum activities have also been shown to be able to correlate the issues under discussion.

Chronological Sequence of Major Events- Indo-Pak Relations

1947	Partition of India into India and Pakistan- British leave India
1948	Horrendous riots and slaughter of Muslims in India and that of Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan. Over 14 million people displaced and nearly one and a half million people killed
1948	Tribesmen supported by Pak regulars launch attack on J&K
1949	Case in UN Cease Fire, Plebisite never happened
1965	Pakistan launches attack on J&K- Unsuccessful
1966	Tashkent Declaration
1971	East Pakistan becomes the independent nation of Bangladesh
1972	India and Pakistan sign Simla Agreement. Line of Control (LOC) established in J&K
1974	India conducts Peaceful Nuclear Experiment (Euphemism for the Bomb)
1977	General Zia ul Haq ousts Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and assumes power. Islamisation of Pakistan gains favour.
1978	Pro Soviet Coup in Afghanistan
1979	Mr Bhutto executed. Soviet Union invades Afghanistan.
1980-88	Mujahideen (Holy Warrior) created from Afghan refugees in Rapid growth of ‘Madrassas’
1984	April- India occupies Saltoro range in Siachen
1984	July- Sikh insurgency grows in Indian Punjab- Operation ‘ Blue Star’ launched to clear the Golden Temple of insurgents.
1984	Mrs Indira Gandhi assasinated
1988	Zia ul Haq killed in an air crash- presumed to be sabotage.
Mid 80’s	Womens groups in South Asia get together to help friendship process between India and Pakistan
1994	4 Sep 1994, Pakistan India Peoples forum for Peace and Democracy formed. Our Own Lahore declaration
1994	Mar: First Joint Convention- Delhi-(India)
	Dec: Second Joint Convention – Lahore- (Pakistan)
1995	Third Joint Convention - Calcutta-(India)
1998	Mar- BJP Government installed in India. May 11 India Explodes Nukes- May 28 Pakistan does likewise
1998	Nov: Fourth Joint Convention in Peshawar.(Pakistan)
1999	Feb- Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan sign historical Lahore Declaration
1999	April-May Mini War in Kargil (J&K)
1999	Oct – Gen Musharraf stages bloodless coup assumes power in Pakistan
2000	Apr- PIPFPD Fifth Joint Convention-Bangalore (India)
2000	Nov - Admiral Ramdas and Ms Nirmala Deshpande meet Gen Musharraf in Pakistan.
2001	June – The Agra Summit Mr Vajpayee PM of India and Gen Musharraf meet in India.
2001	Sep 9, Attack on World Trade Center- New York. The world is stunned by the act. USA responds quickly. Afghanistan attacked. President Bush’s famous speech. “ Either you are with us or against us”.
2001	Dec 13, Militants attack Indian Parliament. Indo-Pak face off begins. Open War Averted.
2001	PIPFPD - Sixth Joint convention scheduled end of the year at Karachi Postponed indefinitely. No direct communications by air, rail or road
2002	June. Troops pull back. Relative normalcy returns.
2003	Feb Prime Minister of India holds out olive branch again.
2002/2003	Some members of the Forum continue to keep in touch through the long route via Dubai.
2003	June - The Forum uses the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) rule for travel without visas for Members of Parliament, and invites a dozen MP’s to India who cross the Border at Wagah. A great break through when visa not restored
2003	Dec The long awaited sixth Joint convention held in Karachi –
2004	Jan: SAARC Heads of State Meeting in Islamabad.Vajpaee and Gen. Musharraf meet on the sidelines .Issue a favorable statement for the resumption of the composite dialogue to solve all issues including J&K
2004	August: Dialogue on various issues currently in progress.

Note: In the table the major activities of the PIPFPD have been printed in bold letters and the rest are official activities. Only major events have been flagged.

The reason for listing some of these events is to bring us all onto the same grid so that we can understand the remaining parts of this paper in a time perspective. Let us then examine various aspects of “Prejudice” and how it has affected functioning all around.

Prejudices

In order to be able to dismantle prejudices it will be necessary to examine “Prejudice” in all its manifestations, and that may help, as indeed it did to us in our peace work. Prejudice knows no bounds! You feel it and find it in every walk of life. Beginning with the family and extending it all the way up to national, international and global levels. Nor is it confined to one discipline or skill, it is all embracive. Since all relationships are anchored on inter-personal relations, it is important to know where the other person is coming from! We know that the roots of prejudice could lie in nationalism, culture, religion, education, socialization, history and media or in some measure due to a combination of some or all of these. For example, history is deliberately written to give it a definite slant against someone. This has been observed in our studies of history portrayed by Pakistan and more recently attempted in India by the previous government. In India there are certain extremist right wing groups who like to place all of India’s problems at the doorstep of the Muslims. Hitler for example blamed all of Germany’s problems to the Jews. Many others in the world today have done the same sort of thing. The world is also witness to rising religious fundamentalism. Besides India and Pakistan, Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine issues belong to this category. Ultra nationalism has been the bane of modern co-existence. We are not prepared to see the differences that exist between adversaries and learn to live with these. Let us see how all this has affected the scene in South Asia.

The South Asian Scene

Both India and Pakistan were born in an atmosphere of hate, mistrust and bloodshed. Each side felt cheated, for they did not get the real estate they had hoped for. The division was more arbitrary and pushed through in great haste. The partition came about more due to the greed of the elite leadership rather than by ascertaining the wishes of the people.. The Hindu –Muslim divide was accentuated and further strengthened by the constant use of propaganda and other means like history and education. The notion of Muslims being a superior race was actually believed in Pakistani establishment. On 29 March 1965, Field Marshal Ayub Khan the President of Pakistan in a secret note to Gen. Musa, the Army Chief, wrote ‘ As a general rule Hindu morale would not stand more than a couple of hard blows delivered at the right time and place. Such opportunities should therefore be sought and exploited” (Stanley Wolpert Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan , New York Oxford University Press 1993, p 90.) This kind of mindset was not only propagated but also nurtured in the system. Likewise the mind set in some of the leaders of the military in India especially after 1971, is to “Teach Pakistan a lesson once and for all.” When one questions them to detail what they mean by it, they are at a loss to explain. This is yet another example of mindset or prejudice! So one can see the enormous challenges that confronted us as peace warriors! This was particularly so in my case as a former navy person and Chief of the Indian Navy. It has been a daunting experience. The oft-repeated snigger and innuendo, even to the extent of being accused of being anti-national and unpatriotic was norm. I had to negotiate as a lonely furrow for most of the time. Even amongst some of my colleagues in the Forum-the conservative and traditional activists- there were some doubts and suspicions about my credibility which I could sense sometimes. They too could not reconcile to this former military person behaving in this “strange manner” championing the cause of Peace! Fortunately all these bridges were crossed and the Forum was kept on course and most of the concerns resolved themselves with time. I am happy to say that we are a healthy and vibrant lot today! We will now have a quick look at some of the perceptions held about each other in Pakistan and India. This is necessary before we can share some of the strategies adopted for dismantling these prejudices.

Perceptions of both Pakistan and India

Pakistan

• India has never reconciled to the creation of Pakistan and therefore wishes to destroy it.
• The Hindu mind is very clever and crafty so do not trust them.
• The Muslims in India and especially in Kashmir are all maltreated so we must protect them if need be by “Jihad” and / or low-intensity war which will bleed India.
• India is Enemy Number ONE.
• The Hindu cannot fight and therefore deliver a few hard blows on India and it will crumble.( See earlier reference to FM Ayub Khan’s statement)

India

• Pakistan suffers from an Identity crisis.
• They want to seek revenge for the loss of the Eastern Wing which became Bangladesh.
• They want to integrate the Kashmir Valley into Pakistan on the basis of it being a Muslim majority area. They want to Internationalize the Kashmir issue.
• Pakistan must be taught a lesson (militarily) once and for all.
• Pakistanis and the Generals in particular – Can they be trusted to talk genuine peace?

Dismantling Prejudices

We have seen the main factors that contribute towards building prejudice. In the India-Pakistan scenario, the main causes like demonizing of each other and the constant disinformation spread by textbooks, media and other sources have all added to our miseries. Both our governments stand of exercising selective issue of visas has also contributed to a large extent for keeping people in the dark. The Forum, by facilitating regular exchange of all kinds of peoples, has in some measure helped to lift some of the myths that had earlier been treated as gospel! To quote a Chinese saying, “ I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.” The joint conventions which are major events in our calendar have been the mainstays of our work. These are more visible and therefore have a special flavour. Each time we have had to turn down many requests to attend these conventions because of the limited resources of the hosts! We need to correct this by expanding our list of well-wishers!

Major Issues which are debated regularly by the Forum

• Jammu and Kashmir
• Demilitarisation and Denuclearisation
• Governance
• Intolerance and Education
• Gender and other related issues
• Globalisation
• Business and Trade
• Cultural Exchange, Sports etc.

These then in effect address the principle causes of Prejudice. These are debated at various events small and big by the two chapters and also jointly from time to time. Slowly but surely we have made progress which has gathered a momentum of its own.

Investment in Youth

Getting the youth of both countries together has been a great achievement. Mrs. Lalita Ramdas’s contribution in this field has been tremendous. Being an educationist and social activist and a member of the National Committee of the Pak India Forum, she has been the beacon for this programme. We had a group of School girls from Islamabad visiting India at the same time as Gen. Musharraf was busy talking to Prime Minister Vajpayee in Agra. Whilst the Agra summit did not come out with anything substantial, the children’s visit to Lucknow, Kanpur and Agra was a big hit. Cinema Halls by opening their doors to the Pakistani kids together with banner headlines on the screen welcoming our young ambassadors from Pakistan were all memorable events. The Initiative for Peace Program conducted by the United World College in Singapore in 2002 got about 40 young people from both countries together, where both Mrs. Ramdas and I were resource persons. This was followed by another workshop in Karachi in 2003 and more recently in June 2004, we have completed another similar workshop for a fresh lot of 70 students. The following quote says it all.

• At the end of the Singapore workshop ‘Initiative for Peace-Focus on Kashmir’ the 40 young people belonging to both India and Pakistan agreed on this inspiring statement of Common Ground. It said, “ We believe that we have the power to make this generation and the generations to come, the best ever in the history of humanity, or the worst. The choice is entirely ours; we have made the choice for a better and peaceful world.”

There is no doubt that investment in youth is the best way to bring about change.

Complementary Activities

• The India-Pakistan Soldiers Initiative for Peace (IPSI) is an organization comprising retired Army, Navy and Air Force personnel. I am the Chief Patron of the Indian Chapter. Ms. Nirmala Deshpsande, a well known Gandhian, is the Chairperson of both the Indian and the Pakistan chapters. We have had a couple of meetings in both our countries and in a small way helped improve the understanding of each other in the Armed Forces. A very useful forum indeed as Pakistan has spent more than half its existence under military rule, and indeed sports one even today.

• Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace ( CNDP )

  
  This is a coalition of over 120 civil society organizations in India to promote Peace and Nuclear Disarmament formed in November 2000. I Chaired its inaugural session to draft the constitution of the Coalition. It is doing excellent work to spread the message of the harmful effect of nuclear weapons and the need for total nuclear disarmament. As a part of this process I have attended three UN Disarmament meetings as spokesperson of international NGO’s.

  
  

• Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP)

  I am on its International Advisory Board.
  
  

• Waging Peace Foundation Santa Barbara USA

  I am also on its Advisory Board.

In addition, my past association with government at the highest levels, helped me to relate to policy makers and help keep them posted of the peoples movement on both sides of the fence. Further, my personal involvement has been both local and global, in short in the larger interests of ‘Humanity’ as opposed to ‘Nationality’.

The Continuing Challenges

• Heading the list is undoubtedly: Poverty, hunger, illiteracy, water, health, shelter, education and unemployment
• Vested Interests on both sides. Military in Pakistan and Bureaucracy in India
• The powerful influence of the Military Industrial Complex
• Religious and other forms of Extremism and Fundamentalism
• The restoration of civil rule in Pakistan
• The pressures of Globalization and External Interference
• Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament

The Way Ahead

• Liberalization
• Resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir Issue
• Sustaining the dialogue process
• Strengthen the Peoples Movement for Peace
• All around education and awareness building especially amongst youth
• Evolving a Global Nuclear Management and Safety Regime en route to Total Nuclear Disarmament

Conclusion

We have come to the end of this short narrative wherein I have tried to share with you my analysis of the problems and prospects of the world at large and South Asia in particular. We are clear that the road ahead is still strewn with many more obstacles and it will require the combined efforts of the larger many and the wisdom and statesmanship of the leadership in both India and Pakistan to overcome these. The people have unequivocally announced that they want peace and wish to move on. It is now time for all of us to make it happen. The younger generation is clear about its choice for peace and the seniors must make that dream come true.

Peace in South Asia is vital for global peace and security. By the same token peace without justice is also not tenable. Peoples in many areas of the world, including India are suffering because of the absence of justice; which in turn generates a dynamic of violence. Peace is therefore vital both internally and externally for moving along the road towards sustainable development.

India and Pakistan are at a crossroads to determine their destinies. It is imperative that the managers of our future respond to the overwhelming demand of the people for peace. Peace will win and People shall prevail. #