Series Introduction

A New Tryst with Destiny: Towards a New South Asia

South Asia is at a new threshold of history, and we have choices to make. The question is whether we have to be driven by the past or whether we need to imagine a new future. Though divided by the territorial borders of relatively new nation-states, South Asia can be seen as a confluence of religions, languages and creeds—a very rich and cohesive cultural landscape, shaped and made fertile by multiple faiths and practices. We need to discover and affirm voices lost in history and suppressed by feudal, caste and patriarchal power structures. Such a vision requires a collective search and a collective commitment.

Imagine a New South Asia (INSA) is neither a project nor an organization, but an initiative promoted by civil society activists, artists, media practitioners, academics and policymakers to unshackle the painful chains of the past and dare to dream a New South Asia. It has emerged from a shared sense of South Asian citizenship among many of us who strongly feel the need to move beyond the present predicament of mistrust created by the vested interests of each country.

INSA is a call to dream as well as a call to action; a call to develop a sense of collective imagination and responsibility, to sing new songs of freedom and hope, and to discover new voices. It is a creative initiative to unleash the poetical and political imagination to work towards a shared and cohesive New South Asia as a confederation with multiple new possibilities. Skeptics may say that it is a mere romantic dream, but dreams can usher in a new dawn. In a growing climate of cynicism, young people should not lose the ability to dream about a New South Asia. As a part of the INSA initiative, we plan a series of activities over the next few years, to publish new voices, promote new policy options, and to think about the possibilities of a real New South Asia.

To build a broader and visionary perspective of a plural-federated South Asia, the initiative has conducted research to better understand the political, social and institutional structures and processes that shape policy decisions, and to generate new ideas for establishing a people’s South Asia. Its findings have been put together in the form of a four-volume series, also named ‘Imagine a New South Asia’, organized around four thematic clusters: peace and justice; human rights, democracy and governance; economic integration in South Asia; and natural resources and sustainable environment.

Peace and Justice

Peace and Justice explores the possibility of a pluralistic South Asia that is democratic and decentralized. Political system must ensure that their agents take a more just approach when dealing with the cultures of the minorities to maintain plurality. The report on peace and justice examines the possibility of bringing together the nations based on trust. The volume seeks to break away from the politics of exclusion towards a more inclusive South Asia by focusing on issues such as conflicts, militarization, ethnicity, caste and religious fanaticism. It attempts to explore mechanisms to practice pluralism, which is currently tainted by the practice of hegemony and oppression in the name of religion, ethnicity, caste, culture, etc., and come up with ideas to build peace based on justice.

Human Rights, Democracy and Governance

Taking examples from the shared history of South Asia, Human Rights, Democracy and Governance examines the present complexities of society and politics in the region. It examines the way issues in governance, democracy and human rights can be addressed to imagine a new ‘Southasia’ and ensure justice for all of its people. Finally, it proposes common institutions for a collective future. It focuses on the assurance of rights and people-centred democratic processes and institutions, emphasizing on the need for a South Asian Human Rights Charter, Human Rights Court, and South Asian Parliament, and suggests mechanisms of check-and-balance among the judiciary, legislative and the executive bodies to reform the common, two-hundred-year-old colonial rules and regulations. These are expected to lead towards greater emancipation of the fraternity of South Asians, and to provide strategic directions for greater economic integration, political accommodation and socio-cultural understanding.

Economic Management

The research described in the volume Economic Integration in South Asia attempts to suggest solutions for the one-and-a-half billion people belonging to the region, based on a collective vision for a New South Asia in which they will not have to live in fear, will not be bound to national boundaries, and will be able to cross state borders freely for better livelihoods, options, environments, and markets. The volume especially attempts to outline a roadmap to achieve common economic frameworks; to identify the institutions needed to overcome common obstacles such as poverty, hunger and barriers to natural resources; to suggest clear strategies to utilize regional resources in a sustainable and equitable manner that enhance the growth and redistribution of wealth; and to offer feasible economic solutions that support marginal small farmers involved in agriculture, industrial workers, and workers in the informal sector—all within the framework of a sustainable environment.

Natural Resources and Sustainable Environment

Natural Resource Management in South Asia focuses on the political economy of natural resource governance, and tries to formulate a collective approach for addressing natural resources governance in the region. Energy, land, biodiversity, water and atmosphere governance are discussed at length from a people-centric view. Each chapter is organized on the basis of pressures, state and response framework to identify the common pressures that South Asia faces. An attempt is made to propose the collective responses to cope with these pressures. Broadly the volume tries to use a regional approach to respond to the common problems in natural resources sector across South Asia and other dimensions of sustainable development; to examine options to ensure food and water security in South Asia; to suggest mechanisms for the utilization of natural resources on a regional basis to maximize benefit for the people as a whole; to suggest alternative policy framework in ensuring sustainable environment; and to look at ideas for building professional institutions in this area.

It is important to develop a sense of South Asian identity beyond our own sense of ‘nationalism’. We need to exorcise the ghosts of the past. We, as South Asians, have much more in common in terms of language, culture, food, music and tastes than any set of people in the world. Hence, it is important to find lasting solutions based on mutual cooperation, collaboration and joint effort. The largest number of poor people live in South Asia. We, as a region, are the most vulnerable to natural, social and political disasters, and to the entire range of violent politics, extremism and terrorism. Conflicts over natural resources, identity and inequality are on the rise here. Unless we challenge and change this situation, it will perpetuate new conflicts, and undermine democracy and development across South Asia.

The first step towards lasting peace in the region is to develop workable and realistic solutions to entrenched conflicts, without undermining the integrity and sovereignty of the countries in South Asia. This demands a positive social and cultural agenda for all countries of the region, and the development of a framework for human rights. The idea of a new South Asia will have to be debated among the peoples of South Asia to inspire a new vision of a peaceful, prosperous region, where every person and community can live with a sense of dignity.

It is time to Imagine a New South Asia—where borders will be transformed into bridges and bonding, where all children will go to school, no one will go to bed hungry, and the human rights of minorities will be respected; where there will be prosperity and peace rather than war and violence; where people can rise above their narrow interests to share a common vision. Let us imagine a new South Asia that can transform itself and the world. It is time to rediscover the dream of Rabindranath Tagore as envisioned in his oft quoted verse ‘Chitto jetha bhoyshunyo uchcho jetha shir’ from his Nobel Prize-winning Gitanjali:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

It is time to rekindle a politics of hope. We need to make a new tryst with destiny for a New South Asia.

John Samuel
Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir