Following this, in a forum discussion about fundamentalism in Pakistan, my comment raised a lot of eyebrows. It was not surprising. I had hinted towards India (not exclusively though) for the root of the problem in Pakistan.
The loss of East Pakistan in 1971 was a major reason for the Islamist influence to gain grounds in the Pakistan Military. The Islamists were seen as more reliable political partners because the loss was attributed to the rise of secular forces in East Pakistan and their collaboration with India. Within a few years, the civilian government was toppled and a severe blasphemy law was enacted.
This was not exactly a classic ‘cause and effect’ kind of interpretation of history. However, it is one which delves into the abstract of human psychology – of emotions, beliefs, intentions, signs and implications. Considering this, events often seem to have a distant and indirect impact. And when in hindsight the secret underground links are exposed, we are left dumbfounded making it hard to accept it as the truth.
America gets its place here too, like most of the nightmarish events around the world. When Islamic Militants could be utilized against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the US helped them. And by the time the support was lifted, fundamentalism had set in the society as a deep atavism, ever ready for new forays.
Talking about America, in a similar context, lets shift to Tibet. Bush met the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama in 2007 in a low key affair, where as Barack Obama made a lot of gung ho scene in 2010. We have been long conditioned to believe that the West is for Tibetan freedom. And in such a scenario, if I say so, US was responsible for Tibetan deaths, eyebrows will be raised. But that is what exactly has happened.
In January 26, 2003, Lobsang Dhondup, a twenty-eight-year-old Tibetan was executed in China for his alleged involvement in a series of unsolved bombings in Eastern Tibet. They termed it ‘crimes of terror’ as a result of which he was denied access to lawyers and open trial.
When US launched the global war on terror after 9/11, China grabbed the opportunity to follow suit by upping the ante about ‘separatism and terrorism’ in its homeland. The emboldened step of the regime resulted in harsh dealings with the activists in Tibet and Xinjiang under the rhetoric of fighting ‘terrorism’ which by then had become a global hit.
Xinjiang – in Mandarin means “new frontier.” It’s a sign. And this exactly is what it means when I say intentions, emotions and signs are as important in history as facts and figures because it is about humans.
The danger with studying sociology and politics as science is of mechanical oversimplification. This means looking at society and community as a big machine and people as parts driven by either mechanical forces or set rules of rational reasoning. Thus events, the scientists believe, can be justified or predicted by a dialectics of actions and reactions.
The danger with studying sociology and politics as science is of mechanical oversimplification. This means looking at society and community as a big machine and people as parts driven by either mechanical forces or set rules of rational reasoning. Thus events, the scientists believe, can be justified or predicted by a dialectics of actions and reactions.
When asked about the royal massacre of 2001 by a friend, I had said once - it did not really matter who killed Birendra; what mattered is, who the people believed was behind the incident. And the events that followed are a result of a complex setting driven by this sentiment to a great extent.
Attributing any event to a single cause in history is naive. There can be triggers but the gun powder is always deep-rooted and multi-textured.
As observers therefore, it is very important not to get trapped in the mathematical quod erat demonstrandum (QED). That is not and cannot be ‘Quite Easily Done’ in an art class of studying time and society. In our attempt to interpret society and politics, it is very important to decipher – what is coincidental and what is not? What is intentional and what is not? What is a moral disaster and what is not?
Highlighting the answers to these questions, even in retrospect, might make the decision makers wiser.
Our regimes make decisions and take actions on behalf of communities, nations and alliances. The leaders have to know that the decisions made by them affect people. It is about humans. The effect cannot be mapped by few dots in blue or red on a digital map of a war operations room. The dots leave marks much deeper than those on the map.
As attack builds up in Libya, I am afraid the lack of moral ascendency that violence brings with itself may embolden many in future. Let us keep it on record for posterity.
For now, to end with, it was a mere coincidence and not some divine intervention that while I was about to finish this article, I stumbled upon a commentary in an old issue of Time about a Chinese movie. However, it’s no co-incidence that in ‘The Founding of a Republic’ - a state backed docu-drama produced to commemorate 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China - Mao features as saying, “We need capitalists back.” Quite unbelievable, even when he is disappointed because he cannot buy his favorite smoke.
It will be interesting to see how much recasting of history the leaders of Nepal will have to resort to in future
dinkar.nepal@yahoo.com
Related story
Maryam Mirzakhani: 'A beautiful journey in the subtle world of...
-1776353206.webp)
