The need for a positive outlook during times of conflict (for lack of a better title)

The need for a positive outlook during times of conflict (for lack of a better title)

The other day, I was taking a walk in the evening when I came across this huge poster splashed across a signboard which had a picture of Babri Masjid with Kar –Sevaks demolishing it and the title to the poster screaming ‘Betrayal … Lest we forget it’ . Somehow at that moment, it made me extremely sad… and that’s because whenever people try to put things behind them and move on, posters like these bring it all back.

I have often wondered how different communities ( in this case different religions) react to situations of conflict, in the sense , the methods of conflict resolution well after the actual period of conflict is actually over (lets define this period as maybe a decade – this is just an arbitrary period) ; do they have a sense of simmering anger (of course they do!!!). However the question which I’m posing here is whether communities who have gone been situations of conflict look inward and get into a cycle of blame/retribution/self pity which then gives rise to further trauma, anguish and related emotions or do they inspite of harboring such emotions are capable of rising above it and building their life afresh. I have posed this question to a number of friends (from various communities) and have been given various responses.

At this point, I must say that there are certain thoughts/biases/assumptions (for lack of better words) that I myself bring into this discussion, some of which have been strengthened and others which have been weakened during the course of discussions with friends.

My first point is this; I believe that in order to move ahead in life, one cannot be inward looking; one needs to rise to the occasion to overcome various challenges and difficulties. While this statement is generic and not many may dispute this, this is true for communities affected by conflicts as well. In fact, in their case it is even more paramount that they look outward and start actively re-building their lives because otherwise it is very easy to get caught in a cycle of self-pity and a feeling of retribution out of which there is no escape and there is nothing to look forward to.

The second point which I find, at least in the Indian context is that there are certain communities affected by conflicts which are more likely to be more inward looking and actively look for retribution thereby possibly missing out on development opportunities and other communities (also affected by conflicts) who would harbor negative emotions of the experiences that they have gone through albeit passively and who are more likely to engage proactively in processes and activities which would ensure that over a period of time they can once again claim their rightful place in society and get back what has been taken from them . The simple point which I’m making here is that wallowing in self pity over something which has happened in the past is not an option; one must look outward and start rebuilding one’s life in order to move ahead. What I’m also saying that it does not mean that you forget what has happened with you. You take legal recourse… the chances that you would see a positive outcome during your lifetime are pretty slim…but justice will prevail. You do not create an ecology where the only job you do is to berate other communities who may have led to your community being negatively affected, you do not portray a situation where retribution is seen as martyrdom. What you do is that you pursue the process of justice and more importantly what you do is to start re-building your life. That is the only way forward.

Somewhere above I talked about communities who represent both streams of thought. At the risk of being wrong, I will name communities and pinpoint what they do and where they go right or wrong and what they need to do to right the wrong.

History has shown that the path of retribution has been one of a downward spiral from where there is no return. The partition of the sub-continent which led to the creation of India and Pakistan was an extremely dark chapter for millions of families which still continues to evoke extremely strong emotions on either side of the border. Amongst many communities which were affected by the partition was the Sindhi community (mostly Hindus). An entire people whose ancestry was founded and nurtured in the Sindh province (now in Pakistan) were uprooted and suddenly found themselves traversing thousands of kilometers and be put up in refugee camps in various parts of India. I’m absolutely sure that like different conflict affected communities, they too would have been absolutely shattered and devastated at the fact of leaving their homeland without knowing where they were headed and what was to become of them. The question to be asked is… what did they do of the anger and devastation? Did they say that, ‘hey we have been wronged and therefore we must avenge the wrongdoings that we have suffered’ or ‘ ok… well while what has happened with me has been wrong, I will not let that come in the way of my progress and will start rebuilding my life from scratch’. They chose the latter option. Refugee camps which could have become a hell-hole without a future slowly saw themselves being transformed into business centres, where people of the Sindhi community made a name for themselves and have since then been rated as some of the people with the finest business acumen in the country…and all this when without silver spoons in their mouth(s??).

The Sikh community too has gone through hell over the past 3 decades before seeing a phase of relative normalcy and prosperity from the 90’s onwards. The Khalistan movement in the 70’s and 80’s and its violent repression by the administration which culminated in Operation Bluestar to flush out militants holed up inside the Golden Temple (the holiest shrine of the Sikh community) which led to the temple complex itself close to being destroyed created deep fissures and led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh bodyguards. Not surprisingly Congress workers led by Congress leaders like HKL Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler amongst others went about massacring Sikhs en masse especially in and around the Delhi region. The debate about whether Khalistan would emerge as an independent nation or would remain as part of India in the form of Punjab was settled over the next few years either through state suppression and/or through new economic opportunities which made themselves available especially during the early 90s, making Punjab an economic powerhouse. I really haven’t had the opportunity to talk to many people from the Sikh community, however the few of whom I have interacted with tell me the same story which I narrated of the Sindhi community. True… they were very upset and angry with the Indian government for Operation Bluestar, for the carnage and the mass slaughter of Sikhs that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. There were times when they actively wanted to join the Khalistan struggle… not because they may have believed in it, but as a way to get back at the government. However, at some point of time they moved on… not forgetting what had happened but making a conscious effort to put behind them what has happened and to move on in life. 3 decades hence, efforts at justice are slowly bearing fruit. Sure HKL Bhagat was acquitted… but he was made to go through hell through the courts and he died a lone and bitter man… a far cry from his ‘days of glory’. The noose seems to tightening around Jagdish Tytler too and it may not be very far away when he is held accountable for his actions.

Somewhere in the beginning, I started off with a statement where I said that I hope to illustrate both sides of the story… where one can get to look at stories of communities rising back from situations of conflict and other communities which look inward and the need therefore to rise above these difficult situations and look forward.

I was very tempted to write about those communities whom I felt were inward looking which was an impediment to their growth. Personally, I still do believe that there are elements within those communities who are inward looking and its because they tend to dominate media spaces, there is a danger in labeling the entire community in a certain way which would be the worst kind of injustice on one’s part towards that community.

As one person whom I was talking tells me … how can you even begin to tell residents of Palestine that they should look forward to life and start rebuilding their lives when there is nothing in fact they can look forward to. Their economy is in shambles, their airways, waterways and all modes of transport and communication are controlled by an apartheid state and where there are no visible means of livelihood. They probably don’t know what is going to happen the next day … whether Israeli helicopter gunships might target them claiming as they are militants and where they have to survive on dole outs from the UN. What do you even tell such people... and frankly I don’t know what to say. The same is true of conflict zones such as Kashmir and the North East or even the Naxalite affected areas.

The road to reconciliation though difficult and arduous, must be attempted in the truest sense. The best instance of reconciliation which I recall was one attempted by the South African administration after the end of apartheid. Titled as ‘Peace and Reconciliation’, the process aimed at bringing both victims and perpetrators together and attempt to create a process of unraveling the truth and finding out what even happened to individuals who lost their lives during the ant-apartheid struggle. The aim was not to create a negative atmosphere, but to make people realise their wrongs and to heal wounds which would have otherwise gone unaddressed. While some cynics were of the opinion that it let the perpetrators go almost scot-free, and the process itself did not meet its intended outcomes, the truth remains that we need more of such interventions if we are to become a more humane society.