By: Bart Woord

The whole city of Mumbai seems to have been taken over by terrorists, if I have to believe the TV presenter that is shouting at me. It is 2 o’clock at night in New Delhi but due to my slight jetlag I am still wide awake. The well-known, continuously repeating images are filling the screen. After having spent several days at the South Asian Youth Summit together with IFLRY VP Jan-Argy Tolentino, organized by the Liberal Youth of South Asia, I have noticed that I am already somewhat numbed to be truly shocked. Whether you speak to Sri Lankans, Kashimiri, Afghans, Nepali or Pakistani, the story is the same: violence, ranging from terrorism to outright civil wars, is the burning scar that stretches all throughout the South Asian region.

Obviously, the challenges that are being faced by the governments in the region – comprising more than 1,5 billion inhabitants – are diverse and perhaps even incomparable, and the prospects for peace diverge. In Nepal there is certainly a peace agreement between the government and the communists, but the progress is still marginal and fragile. The monarchy has not just been overthrown, it has been fully dissolved and an alternative national symbol has yet to be found. In a country with more than hundred ethnic groups and where the government has over many years not been able to take effective control over its territory, new instability might be looming. Already now there are regular conflicts between governmental forces and separatist groups in the south of the country.

Whereas in Nepal the government eventually had to accept a compromise with the communist guerilla, the civil war in Sri Lanka seems slowly but steadily to be concluded by military force alone. That is, on the surface. The governmental troops have been proceeding far into the Tamil territory and it only seems to be a matter of time until they take over the headquarters in Kilinochchi. However, conflicts are never solved by the point of a gun only and continued violence is very likely, primarily in terms of terrorist attacks. As long as the Tamils continue to feel discriminated against and do not receive the necessary autonomy that is required for them to give effective meaning to their right of self-determination, resistance will remain.

As a consequence of the attacks in Mumbai, the verbal battle between India and Pakistan has once again been fired up; a battle that unfortunately has already went out of hand twice and led to outright war. India doesn’t only present a pivotal role in the region due to its geo- or demographical size; it is also already for decades the only functioning democracy which makes it an inspiration for many. The threat transpiring from the terrorist attacks is therefore more than just physical: it also undermines the country’s democracy, both through the direct effects for religious tolerance between Hindus and Muslims, as well as indirectly via the potential domestic, repressive reactions to the fear. The question is now whether Pakistan, so clearly failing in its handling of the Taliban in the border regions with Afghanistan, can take effective action in order to appease the Indian worries to at least a certain extent.

It was thus slightly ironic that just two days before the Mumbai attacks, the delegates at the South Asian Youth Summit had held an outside picket at the National Monument in New Delhi against terrorism…