Kashmir: New Voices, New Approaches
Background
Kashmir, along with the Middle East and Northeast Asia, remains one of the three most intractable challenges that have defied solution despite the best intentions of the international community over the past half-century. These three crucial regional problems emerged soon after the end of the Second World War, continued to fester during the Cold War, and pose a serious threat to international peace and security even today. In fact, the post-Cold War period has seen a dramatic escalation of tensions and violence in all three regions. The three regions also exemplify the concept of regional conflict complexes. In Kashmir, this complexity is deeply intensified by linkages to transnational terrorist networks and by the “nuclearization” of the region.
IPA Program
The three primary objectives of this project are: (1) to identify and build the capacity of new voices in India, Pakistan and Kashmir to discuss existing proposals and generate new ideas about the unending Kashmir conflict; (2) to allow for a dialogue between these new voices from the region, especially from both parts of Kashmir and to identify ways of moving the agenda forward; and (3) to critically examine the potential role, if any, of the international community in facilitating the process of resolution. To achieve these objectives the project, will proceed in three stages:
First, during the preparatory stage, the International Peace Academy (IPA), in partnership with leading Indian and Pakistani scholars, will identify new voices among the new generation of scholars in India, Pakistan as well as the disputed state of Kashmir who are committed to resolving the long-standing Kashmir crisis. As part of building their research capabilities, the new scholars will be commissioned to write papers in pairs (one from India and another from Pakistan) on different aspects of the Kashmir issue, including the gender dimension of the crisis. Simultaneously, IPA will also commission scholars to critically examine the various dimensions of the Kashmir issue including civil society aspirations. Second, during the dialogue stage the project will organise a workshop to provide a via media to establish a dialogue to exchange ideas amongst the new voices. The objective of this workshop will be twofold: first to allow a dialogue between the Indian and Pakistani participants, especially the participants from the two sides of Kashmir, to discuss present initiatives and suggest new approaches. The second will be to discuss with the authors their commissioned papers with a view to transforming them into chapters for an edited volume. The last months of the project will be devoted to the dissemination stage and will feature two activities. First, publishing an edited volume based on the research papers of the new scholars and the workshop discussions. Second, to present the principal findings of the edited volume at a series of meetings in the United States (New York), India (New Delhi) and Pakistan (Islamabad) and to engage the civil society in a forward-looking discussion on Kashmir.
The preparatory stage
The first stage, which has already begun, will focus on constituting a partnership between the IPA and two distinguished scholars from the region: P.R. Chari of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi and Professor Hasan Askari-Rizvi, formerly of Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan and former Quaid-i-Azam Distinguished Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York. A former civil servant Mr. Chari has the distinction of being one of the few Indian experts examining new approaches to resolving Kashmir. Professor Askari-Rizvi, a distinguished scholar, has written extensively on Kashmir and offers new Pakistani perspectives on the subject.
The initial objective of this partnership will be to strengthen the capacity of the partners to expand their research on Kashmir. A related objective would be to enlarge this core group by facilitating the ability of the partners in India and Pakistan to identify and train young scholars based in India, Pakistan as well as both Indian and Pakistani Kashmir to work on different aspects of the Kashmir issue. In addition, the partners, in tandem with the new scholars, will seek to expand the civil society network dealing with Kashmir in their respective countries by disseminating their research though seminars and report. The partners in India and Pakistan will engage and strengthen the new voices by, first, commissioning them to write papers in pairs (one from India and another from Pakistan) and, second, by facilitating their research on different aspects of the Kashmir issue. These papers will form the basis for discussion between the Indian and Pakistani scholars as well as an edited volume.
The dialogue stage
Based on the commissioned papers – both from within South Asia and without – a structured dialogue will be held, possibly in collaboration with one or two of IPA’s international partners. This dialogue will be limited only to the partners and scholars and will have two objectives.
First, to establish links between the new generation of Indian and Pakistani scholars as well as scholars from both sides of the Kashmir divide with a view to strengthening the capacities of indigenous institutions. The primary objective of the dialogue between the new voices from Kashmir, national and sub-national actors and members of the international community will be to examine new approaches and, perhaps, developing a process for long-term peace in Kashmir.
Second, to critically discuss and evaluate the commissioned papers for their academic content and with a view to transforming them into chapters for an edited volume. Here the authors will be encouraged to incorporate the discussions and the deliberations of the workshop into their revised chapters.
The dissemination stage
Although the project is so designed that the ideas generated during its course will be disseminated into the policy process through a workshop report, articles and briefings as well as a pro-active web-site, the final stage of the project will pay particular attention to sharing the experience and findings of the project with as wide a civil society audience as possible, particularly in India and Pakistan. This will be accomplished by presenting the principal findings of the edited volume at two meetings in India and Pakistan.
The edited volume will be based on the commissioned papers for the project. With contributions from both international and South Asian scholars, this volume will situate the Kashmir imbroglio in the regional conflict complexes academic literature and then go on to present the major findings of the project on how to untangle and resolve regional conflict complexes. In doing so the book is expected to make a substantial contribution to the literature on the subject. In addition, the book will also aim to offer policy-relevant approaches, particularly to the international community as well as to key actors in South Asia to addressing the Kashmir entanglement in all its aspects.