KARACHI, Nov 11 With the war on terror raging across continents, almost all countries are gripped by the conflict. The worst-affected, however, are Pakistan and the other South Asian states. This could be due to the many dynamics involved and most people attribute this to the region's strategic location as seen in the case of Balochistan, for its close proximity to Afghanistan. A similar case is that of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which are considered to be a hub of militancy, and until recently Swat.

These observations were made by experts while discussing the scope of Conflict Resolution Research (CRR) at a two-day workshop which concluded here on Wednesday. The workshop was organised by Karachi University's International Relations department. The experts expressed their confidence that CRR might not help resolve these conflicts but could certainly help manage them.

“If we go beyond borders, we find India grappling with Nagaland and Sri Lanka contending with Tamils although most would think that with the end of high-intensity violence, the conflict has ended, yet the presence of factors such as poverty and marginalisation of other ethnic groups has made this impossible,” an expert said.

According to Dr Lok Raj Baral, Executive Chairman of the Nepal Centre for Contemporary Studies, Kathmandu, studying conflict in South Asia, although a difficult task due to lack of commitment in the political leadership even in vibrant democracies like India, must be pursued because without this there is no way forward.

Citing the example of Nepal where peace could not be restored despite disarming of the Maoists, Dr Baral claimed that poverty and gaps between the state and its people were major causes of the unrest.

Endorsing Dr Baral's views, Rabia Akhter, Chairperson of the Department of Defence and Diplomatic Studies, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, highlighted the fact that “conflicts are spilled from the within to the without.” She emphasised upon the human needs theory, the two main pillars of which were found to be the need for security and identity as the root of the problem, adding that “understanding the context of the conflict and the culture in which it occurs are of paramount importance”.

Referring to the current context of terrorism in Pakistan, and also around the world, she stated that “the states and governments are focused on eliminating terrorists, when in reality it was important to remove terrorism and its sources.” This could only be done if conflicts were studied in relation to its context, she stressed.

Dr Moonis Ahmar, Chairman of the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, said that conflict resolution research was aimed at ensuring a better living for people. “For this, it is important that CRR takes into account the realities behind deadly conflicts, as well as abuse of power and (use of) force by state actors.” He also termed marginalisation of some groups an important factor to be explored.

“Although a dialogue among the warring sides is important, the advantages of links with weak peripheral groups in environments of conflict cannot be denied,” said Dr Ivan Goyozo Somlai, project CESSD, Peshawar. He stressed that social relations should be exploited and peripheral groups, too, must be included in the peace making process.

This sentiment was echoed when Mohammad Ajmal Khan Karimi, a senior analyst at the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies, spoke of the 30-year-old conflict in Afghanistan.

He stressed the importance of the inclusion of tribal elders in policy-making process, stating that “the research conducted in line with the local culture is more useful as compared to concepts that have been borrowed from the West,” a suggestion that was earlier made by Arshi Saleem Hashmi, who conducted a comparative study of conflict Resolution in developed and developing countries. This, he said, was the major cause of failure of the peace moves in Afghanistan.

Mr Karimi, also highlighted various other issues that brewed the Afghanistan conflict. These, he claimed, were lack of security, development and livelihood. He stressed that since all of these issues were inter-related, there was a need to understand one with effect to the other.'

Dr S.I. Keethaponcalan, the head of the Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo, criticised the stagnant state of CRR in Sri Lanka. “Although the LTTE has been eliminated, the causes of the conflict still prevail. It's only that the high intensity violence has ended, the rest is the same,” he observed, referring to poverty and the marginalisation of Tamils. He stressed that this was the reason why it was important to pursue CRR with the same zeal that had been in the past.

According to Dr Nischal Pandey, CRR can help resolve several political issues especially while dealing with a marginalised group as seen in the case of the Maoists in Nepal. Quoting the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2006 between the government and the Maoists, Dr Pandey said “The document states that the government is committed to incorporate rebel fighters in the security forces. This has been interpreted by the Maoists as inclusion in the army, which they welcome. But the army is of the stance that the mention of security forces does not necessarily mean the army, it could be the police and intelligence, too. According to the army, integrating Maoists in the military isn't workable, because they subscribe to a particular doctrine. How we should solve this issue is a major challenge,” he said, emphasising the important role that CRR could play in this context.

Maria Saifuddin Effendi, Dr Subbah Chandran and Dr Abul Kalam Azad, who discussed the scope of CRR in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh respectively, regretted that it was not given the place it deserved amongst various other social science disciplines.

The major impediments in CRR's path in India, as determined by Dr Subbah Chandran, were bureaucracy and the state. “Bureaucracy because they think they know everything and the state because it sees the research organisations which do not support its viewpoint as stooges funded by the enemy,” he argued.

Ms Effendi emphasised the need to develop this field in Pakistan, observing that the conflicts here have a tendency to develop into direct confrontation on a national and regional level.

Dr Abul Kalam Azad was of the view that CRR and Peace and Conflict Studies should not be restricted only to terrestrial domains, but they must cover the oceans too.

“This is because many South Asian countries like Bangladesh face issues that pertain to territorial waters, too,” he argued.