The South Asian quarrels

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South Asia has been ridden with internal conflicts in the past, which seems very likely to continue in the future. These conflicts derive from

(a) Ethno-political causes as for example the several insurgencies

continuing in Northeast India, (now spread into Bhutan) Chakma dissatisfaction in Bangladesh, Tamil-Sinhala strife in Sri Lanka, Mohajir-Sindhi struggle in Pakistan and so on.

(b) Communal - religious causes, as for example communal rioting in

several parts of the subcontinent, the Sikh militancy which obtained in the Punjab and Islamic fundamentalism which complicates the present militancy in Kashmir.

Naxalism in various parts of India and the sectarian violence which persists in Karachi. Clearly none of these causes of Internal conflicts are neatly separable. The Tamil-Sinhala strife in Sri Lanka, for instance, has a Hindu - Buddhist undertone. Similarly, the violence in Karachi has socio-economic (Mohajir against ethnic Sindhi) underpinnings the role of external powers in exacerbating these internal conflicts in evident. Pakistan’s moral

and material assistance to militancy in the Punjab and Kashmir has been extensively documented. So is the moral and material assistance provided to the several insurgencies in Northeast India,

earlier by China and Pakistan, and now by Pakistan, either directly, or through Bangladesh. The terrorist violence, which has taken a steady toll of lives in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is strongly

believed to be encouraged from elsewhere in the region.

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