Edited by Mufleh R. Osmani and Shaheen Afroze

Dhaka: Academic Press and Publishers Library,

in association with Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies

May 2006, Pages 219

Religious Militancy and Security in South Asia is a compilation of research papers presented by the intellectuals of South Asian region at an international conference organized by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Dhaka, in collaboration with the German and French embassies on 10-13 October 2004. The seminar was organized to address the issue of the growing threat of religious intolerance and extremism and its subsequent security concerns at the national, regional, and international level for the countries of the region.

Mr M. Shamsher Ali, Vice-Chancellor of Southeast University Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the President of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, in his paper titled "Root Causes of Militancy: Religious or Otherwise" explains that every form of militancy may not necessarily finds its roots in religion as no religion advocates militancy. Factors like family, social, national, regional, and international conflicts are also contributing to the growing militancy around the world. Militant tendencies have been witnessed in those countries where the interests of a vast majority of people are neglected for a long time. Similarly, during the Cold War era, Muslim countries were encouraged to fight communism and many people were trained militarily for this purpose but were later dubbed fundamentalists. Furthermore, Western arms sellers have also drawn the developing countries into conflict for their advantage. Professor Ali has suggested several measures to combat growing militancy, including a comparative study of religions, highlighting commonalities of religion, and the media playing an active role by discouraging religious extremism and bringing the leaders of different communities together on one platform.   

In his paper titled "Religious Militancy in South Asia: Genesis and Characteristics", Balraj Puri, Director of the Institute of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs, Jammu, stresses that religious factionism emerged in South Asia as a result of the failure of recognition of other aspects of identity. Religious terrorism becomes an expression of ethnic identity when its non-religious expressions are denied democratic outlet.

Dr Sasanka Perera, a teacher in the department of Sociology at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has shared his views regarding the current religious tension in Sri Lanka. According to the writer, the missionary activities of Christian groups are the prime source of growing religious tension in Sri Lanka. These missionary Christian groups, which are usually funded by some western countries, are actively converting poor Buddhists and Hindus to Christianity by promising them financial benefits. This unethical conversion to Christianity has resulted in the popular demand by Buddhist and Hindus that the state should intervene and introduce legal laws to discourage such conversions. The victory of ten Buddhists monks in the parliamentary elections held in Sri Lanka in 2004 is seen as a major development in this direction.

In his paper entitled "Religion, State, and Conflict in South Asia", Christian Wagner, Senior Research Associate in the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Berlin, stresses that in most of the countries of South Asia, religion has not been able to overcome the ethnic and linguistic differences within each country. The creation of Bangladesh, where religion failed to keep the two wings of Pakistan together, and the unrest in Sri Lanka due to the heavy-handedness of Buddhist nationals towards the Tamil minority are some of the examples which the writer has given in favour of his argument. Christian Wagner further claims that religion did not play an important role even in the foreign policies of South Asian countries. The tension between India and Pakistan are due mainly to political and economic reasons rather than religion, except on a few occasions, such as the demolition of the Babri Mosque in December 1992, and the subsequent riots resulting in the postponement of the SAARC summit; or the destruction of the Jama Mosque in Kathmandu in response to the killing of 12 Nepalese by terrorist groups in Iraq. 

Syed Adnan Ali Shah Bukhari, Research Fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, in his paper entitled "Pakistan and the War on Terrorism: Impact on Regional Security" has highlighted the fact that the tragic incidents of 9/11 placed Pakistan in a very difficult situation, where it had to make some difficult foreign policy changes in order to safeguard its vital interests, especially the Kashmir dispute and relations with Afghanistan. The war on terror has also had a far-reaching impact on Pakistan's domestic political dynamics, giving rise to the anti-US sentiments among the masses, which resulted in the rise of Islamic political parties in its North Western Frontier Province, besides repeated assassination bids by religious extremists on the President and other senior government officials of Pakistan. Despite its sacrifices and full co-operation with the Western forces in Afghanistan, the prevailing sentiment is that Pakistan has not been rewarded by the West, especially the United States: the US is actively engaged in developing a strategic partnership with India which is likely to widen the imbalance of power between the two arch rivals.

Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, Chairman of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai, and Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, Mumbai, in his paper on "Religion, Democracy and Secularism" is of the opinion that religion itself is not the cause of conflict. In fact, problems arise when powerful vested interests associate religion with violence. He is of the opinion that the state should not interfere in religious matters, as such activities give extreme elements the opportunity to use religion for their vested interests. The more religion is politicized, the greater is the outburst of religious violence. He has strongly criticized the policies of the United States, which has deliberately promoted anti-Islamic feelings throughout the world; with the help of like-minded media, it tries to legitimize its invasion of Iraq, besides stationing its military forces in Saudi Arabia and supporting Israel. He has urged the leaders and intellectuals of Islam to actively engage in a dialogue process with communities of other faiths, but the success of such a dialogue depends on mutual respect and understanding. 

Syed Anwar Hussain, Professor of International History at the University of Dhaka, has expressed his views on religious militancy in his paper "Religious Militancy, Civil Society and Inter-Faith Dialogue". He is of the opinion that the growing threat of religious militancy in the world is due to a lack of understanding of the essence of religion. No religion in the world supports militancy and violence, least of all Islam, which stresses the importance of peace. He has placed great importance on inter-faith dialogue between civil societies of different religions as an effective measure to counter this menace and promote a better understanding of other religions.

Keshav Raj Jha, President of the Nepal Council of World Affairs (NCWA), Nepal, has given a detailed account of the gradually widening of the religious rift in Nepal. The killing of 12 innocent Nepalese workers in September 2004 by a terrorist group in Iraq sparked violence in Kathmandu and some other parts of Nepal, which disturbed the balance of religious harmony and tolerance. Keshav Raj strongly believes that every religion teaches its followers universal values such as love, respect, tolerance, human rights, etc.; therefore, in order to bring peace and to create more religious harmony, it is extremely important that interfaith dialogues must be held on a regular basis in different countries. He stresses that international organizations, like the United Nations, should play a more active role in curbing and discouraging extremist groups from using any religion for propaganda purposes.

While commenting on the growing threat of militancy, Dr Anindyo J. Majundar, teaching in the Department of International Relations at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, says that co-operation at the regional and extra-regional level will help in dealing with religious militancy in South Asia. He strongly suggests that states should refrain from harming each others interests for their political goals. Economic co-operation along with information exchange, intelligence co-operation, and other confidence-building measures will ensure future peace and security in South Asia.

Dr Ijaz Khan, Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations at University of Peshawar, in his paper entitled "Religious Extremism/Militancy in South Asia: Issues in Levels and Spheres of Cooperation", argues that religious extremism is a global issue but South Asia is the worst-affected region. Religious extremism is a non-state, international phenomenon and, therefore, needs to be dealt with at the state, regional, and international level.

The book covers a wide range of issues that impact the security profile of the South Asian region and presents a unique picture of the situation prevailing in different countries of South Asia. It helps the reader to understand the root causes of militancy and its exact nature and characteristics.