[Reader-list] Thinking Through the Debris of Terror

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Prakash,

Thank you for your response

On 03-Dec-08, at 8:39 PM, taraprakash wrote:

> you would have helped even more if you had suggested what should be  
> done to stop them.


i said

"The only way for us to defeat terrorism in South Asia is for  
ordinary Indians and Pakistanis to join hands across the Indo-Pak  
divide to say that they will no longer tolerate the nurturing of  
terror, hate and division in their societies through the covert and  
overt acts of rogue elements in both their governments (which have a  
vested interest in the continuity of conflict)  and powerful non- 
state actors in both societies. Neither POTA, nor military  
misadventures, nor harder borders can defeat terrorism. A suicide  
bomber can only be disarmed by the narrowing of the political and  
cultural space for hatred within society to levels of utter   
insignificance."

you say

"Our doubts should be kept alive even for the theories that rule out  
the involvement of Pakistani state."

I have not ruled out the involvement in this incident either of rogue  
elements within the Pakistani state, or non-state actors located in  
Pakistan. I have no interest in defending the actions of the corrupt  
ruling elites of Pakistan, or the fanatical fundamentalist forces  
that hold much of Pakistani society hostage. I think that the people  
of India and Pakistan need to find imaginative and intelligent ways  
to confront the forces (within and outside the state apparatuses in  
both our societies) that hold us all in thrall. I do not think this  
can be done overnight. There are no quick fixes. We have to realize  
that we are in this for the long haul

I also do not rule out the involvement of rogue elements within the  
Indian state or powerful non-state actors within India in much else  
of what has happened in recent history. I have pointed out that  
India, nurtured, nourished, armed and abetted the LTTE when it  
attacked innocent civilians in Sri Lanka in 1984. i do not think that  
this meant that Sri Lanka would have been wise in launching armed  
aggression against India.

I just do not think or believe for a moment that war is a solution to  
any of this. I am not here to offer solutions. But I can see a  
disaster in the making when it masquerades as a solution. War, or the  
unilateral use of force by the Indian state in a military mis- 
adventure would be a disaster.

The doubts I suggest we all keep alive have to do with confronting  
the immense certainty that allows terrorists and combatants to  
unleash violence on others and on themselves. I think hesitation,  
reticence, scepticism about the edifices of national, religious and  
ethnic identity that we have all been fed  since childhood are  
actually life savers at this moment. If we all admit that we are all  
incomplete versions of the things we say we are, it might be a little  
more difficult to pick up a gun and defend that identity. That is all  
i am saying.

best

Shuddha




Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net