Book Review
Terrorism: The low intensity war
K. P. S. Gill & Ajay Sahni(ed)
Faultlines: Writings on Conflict and Resolution, Bulwark Books, pp
152, Rs. 250.00

Kashmir issue has been the key factor to the dispute between India
and Pakistan since their independence from the British in 1947.
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The well-known editors of this volume have been bringing out a series
of journals to focus on different sources and aspects of existing and
emerging conflicts in the Indian subcontinent. Terrorism and
low-intensity wars, communal, caste and sectarian strife, political
violence, organised crime, policing, the criminal justice system and
human rights constitute the central focus of the journals in the series.
In the first article of this journal on LTTE's role in Sri Lanka, G.
H. Peiris, Professor Emeritus of Sri Lanka, says that LTTE's recent
declarations that it is willing to consider substantial power-sharing
within the framework of a unified Sri Lanka are "no more than an
ephemeral and inconsequential tactical adjustment of emphasis that does
not swerve from their commitment to the objective of establishing 'Tamil
Eelam'-an independent Tamil nation-state". The author repudiates the
desire for setting up a federal system as it would be no agreement of
significance in the sense that reaching "consensus on a constitutional
change from 'unitary' to 'federal' does not even touch the genuinely
contentious issues of ethnic relations in Sri Lanka".
He has selected certain case studies and these include conflicts in
Centre-State and inter-State relations in India. He specifically
mentions secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir, secessionist insurgency in
the north-east, the Khalistan movement in Punjab, the inter-State river
water disputes and the case of Nigeria, which from federalism has moved
towards anarchy. To substantiate his contention the author describes the
federal structure of Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Yugoslavia and other
European federations. He very rightly cites the case of the tragic
experiences of former Yugoslavia and some of its successor states such
as Bosnia-Herzegovina to show that federal arrangements introduced to
conflict situations in response to ethno-nationalist demands for
self-determination have tended not only to intensify such conflict "but
also to bring into being intrinsically unstable and anarchic 'national'
entities."
Referring to the Kashmir issue, he says that the policy of granting
special rights of self-determination to the State has been pursued since
the early 1950s, but these attempts "have hitherto had hardly any
success. The record leaves no room to doubt that the northern parts of
the State including the Vale of Kashmir have remained, albeit tenuously,
in the Indian Federation, due entirely to military control exercised by
the Center." He adds that the "same would be said of the north-east
where devolution of power through the device of creating new states has
made little headway towards peace and stability."
G. H. Peiris concludes by saying that the dispute over whether Sri
Lanka's Constitution should be 'unitary' or 'federal' is to a large
extent, "one of semantics". He says the existing configurations of Sri
Lanka's ethnic conflict show that "a negotiated agreement on a federal
structure of government for the country is, in fact, no agreement at all
because it does not touch the genuinely contentious issues of ethnic
relations in Sri Lanka."
Nihar Nayak, a Research Associate at the Institute for Conflict
Management in New Delhi, decries the growing tentacles of Maoists in
Orissa. He concedes that there is lack of governance which has been
responsible for underdevelopment, increased exploitation and inequality
in rural areas, with the presence of Naxalites and their terror adding
to the worsening plight of the common man. He regrets that even after
the communist-led peasant movement in Koraput and Ganjam districts of
Orissa in the 1960s, there has been no "coherent strategy of response in
place". He calls for adoption of a systematic approach with a sensitive
administration and proper understanding of the tribal problems to help
"counter left-wing extremism in Orissa".
This is a journal meant to be read by all serious readers to obtain
an understanding of the structures of society, politics, governance and
complex interdependence necessary to provide stability, free from
terror, in South Asia, particularly in India.
(Bulwark Books for the Institute for Conflict Management, 11
Talkatora Road, New Delhi-110 001)
(Courtesy Organiser India)
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