Strategies
For Building
A Culture Of Peace In Ladakh
By Stanzin Dawa
19 September, 2006
Countercurrents.org
"The highest education
is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life
in harmony with all existence." - Rabindranath Tagore
We
are living in a Ladakh marked by growing conflict, both in terms of
its frequency and intensity. Filled with a constant overflowing tension
within ourselves, our families, our communities, our villages, our religion,
our politics, our workplaces, our roads and our Ladakh, we have seen
that any interaction at any moment can erupt into violence. I think
the time has come to ask ourselves what is at the roots of this conflict.
From where are all of these feelings of frustration, insecurity, anger,
hatred, fear, competition, and purposelessness coming from, and why
are they continuously getting channeled into our way of life.
Ladakh which was based on
peaceful coexistence have gradually broken down. "…First,
a gradual fragmentation of our society because of ballot box politics.
So now we are no longer "Ladakhis". We are Buddhist or Muslim,
Shamma or Stodpa, Shia or Sunni, Kagyudpa or Gelugpa, even Congress-pa
or N.C.-pa! …" said Professor Siddiq Wahid in an interview
given to www.ladakhtimes.com. The dehumanized paradigm of modern development
has broken the traditional culture of peace in Ladakh. Helena Norberg-Hodge
noted scholar makes the case that increasing levels of violence between
and within Ladakh's Buddhist and Muslim communities can be attributed
to "the intensely centralizing force of the present global development
model." This paradigms feed off of each other to generate ideologies
that manipulate us, on one hand, to struggle against each other for
'limited' power and resources and, on the other hand, to rigidly stake
in certain notions of 'identity', virtually that leads to violence.
The UNESCO International
Commission on Education for the 21st Century (1996) has highlighted
the notion of 'learning to live together' as one of the main goals for
the new millennium. Living together while accepting and appreciating
the differences was the most significant identity of Ladakhi culture.
In the existing hostile system of global exploitation, culture and approaches
like Ladakh are dying slowly and silently. With the advancement of modern
development in Ladakh we are losing sight of who we really are, what
connects us to each other, and what the deeper struggle of life and
existence in Ladakh. 'learning to live together' involves creating new
space and process to learn techniques to manage, negotiate, resolve,
and prevent the different conflicts that emerge in our lives, such as:
peer mediation, anger management, active listening, stress reduction,
meditation, values clarification, self-esteem, and team building.
To face this, we must learn
to see conflict from another angle... as a positive opportunity for
building greater harmony in our lives and creating new paths of development.
Rather than hiding from conflict, we must embrace it by facing fear
and uncertainty, and becoming more open to and appreciative of the diversity
that exist across the Ladakh. We have the Vision document for the 20
years of Ladakh development, to shape the destiny of Ladakh as per "Our
Choice." We can learn from the history that without Peace the development
cannot be sustained and without Development Peace cannot be existed.We
learn from our experiences, but what we want to learn depends upon our
motive. We can learn the best from the worst situation, provided we
have the right motive behind it. Learning of the past with a noble motive
can help us to deal with the present and future situations in an effective
way.
The last summer violence
between Muslims and Buddhist, the constant political tussle, conflict
within and between the principal religious institutions, regions, sects
and systems in Ladakh forced me to think little deeper about the future
of Ladakh more precisely, culture of peace between and within Leh and
Kargil, Buddhist and Muslims, Congress and LUTF, LBA and LMA, NGOs and
bureaucracy, shanma and stodpa in Ladakh. The cause of conflicts can
be so many, but the causes of peace are limited and sometime if we don't
understand the causes of peace can be the causes for conflicts.
Have we learnt some lesson
from the past and present conflict? Can we sense the potential of future
conflict? Do we have a plan of action for resisting future conflicts?
Do we have some strategies to transform conflicts? I am sure many of
us are concerned about the future relationship between and within Muslims
and Buddhists or Leh and Kargil in Ladakh. How we can bring them closer
to build a united and strong Ladakh? How we can stop the vertical division
of Ladakh in the name of religion, politics, sects, region and development?
The fears and worries of many concerned people and my own concern for
the future of Ladakh compel me to propose a strategy for building a
culture of peace in Ladakh. I would like to make it very clear in the
very beginning that neither, I am an expert on development nor a professional
strategist. But out of my love for Ladakh with great concern as an ordinary
Ladakhi I am proposing this model which I am sure carries lots of flaws.
I must request other enlightened and experts to bless their wisdom and
skills in order to make this a SMART strategy in the larger interest
of Ladakh.
Strategy-1
33 Percent Reservation for Women in the Council
Almost none of the major
conflicts occurred between and within Muslims and Buddhists were initiated
by women, but they have equally affected if not more. The surface of
the Ladakh is covered with a thin gray layer of democratic fabric. Democracy
in Ladakh is a spectator sport, it hardly exists for women in Ladakh;
women are still not admitted as full and equal members in the local
government democratic set up. Looking at the facts, women make up approximately
half of the population of Ladakh. Only 2 women councillors are there
in Leh Council and 3 women in the Kargil Council, each council body
are comprised of 30 members. Appropriate Democratic structures can offer
an effective means for the peaceful handling of deep-rooted conflict
through inclusive, just and accountable frameworks. Democracy provides
the foundation for building an effective and lasting settlement to internal
conflicts. Therefore building appropriate democratic structures in Ladakh
is crucial in building a culture of peace and peaceful settlement. "If
we take the unfortunate step of marginalizing women, the impact will
be a 'half-society' that is less educated, less compassionate and less
intelligent." said, Professor Siddiq Wahid ( www.ladakhtimes.com
interview dated 15th September 2006)
The constitutional protection
of one third representation to women in the Panchayati Raj institutions
under the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Indian Constitution was a land
mark steps taken by the Indian parliament to make the representative
democracy a participatory one. The demand for 33 percent reservation
was based on the research conducted in the United States in the 1970s,
on women participation in business, which showed that 30 percent representation
by minorities could significantly influence the majority verdict. Drude
Dehlerup of the University of Stockholm extended these findings to women
reservation in politics. She observed that while quotas are necessary
to jump start the process of equality, the demand for quotas is a manifestation
of growing impatience with unequal political and social citizenship.
As the Autonomous Council in Ladakh has become a Male Oligarchy. Considering
the marginalization of women in the local democratic set up I propose
33 percent reservation of seats for women in the local Autonomous Hill
Development Council of Leh and Kargil. Women's visions, intelligence,
energy and experience are indispensable to the creation of a more just,
prosperous and peaceful Ladakh.
Strategy-2
Peace education.
Mark Twain "There is
nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn
bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good
ones; it can lift men to angel ship." School is a primary institution
for shaping the attitude and personality of the children. Education
being a state subject, the destiny of education in Ladakh was decided
by the people who were alien to Ladakhi culture and problems. In the
name of education they have introduced inappropriate and irrelevant
syllabi in our schools. The alien education system is responsible to
a great extent in breaking the culture of peace between and within Buddhists
and Muslims. It weakened the inter community bond and understanding.
This system has developed communal sentiments and a sense of insecurity
among Ladakhi. Besides widening the gap between and within the communities
the system has robbed the self esteem of Ladakhi.
Realizing the need of an
education reform in Ladakh, the government, NGOs and community have
jointly started ONH (Operation New Hope) initiated by SECMOL in order
to make the over all system of education more appropriate and relevant
in the Ladakhi context. The ONH has made a significant impact on the
school education but it is still limited in its scope and its operations
due to various reasons. It has become a model for other states to collectively
work on the primary education involving government, NGOs and community.
Seeing the potential of the conflicts and power of the peace education
we must introduce peace education in the school curriculum. Suitable
peace curriculum can be developed on the basis of peaceful historical
relationship between and within the communities as well as to develop
a global understanding of peace, so that Ladakhis can think globally
and act locally. Leaders, prominent citizens and scholars should talk
about peace, non violence and compassion to the children. Considering
the increasing threats of global violence the US congress has passed
a legislation to introduce non violence education in the school. We
can also learn from their experiences by introducing culture of peace
education in the school curriculum. "It is easier to lead men to
combat, stirring up their passion, than to restrain them and direct
them toward the patient labors of peace" André Gide. Only
a strong society can educate its people on peace.
Strategy-3
Common Language
" Learn a new language
and get a new soul." Czech Proverb, but we should not lose our
own soul while running after the other soul. It is good that we have
a common soul I mean common language, as communication is the life line
for peace and development. Language is not merely comprised of letters,
grammars and phonetics it has its own history, music, colours and beauty.
Common language facilitates better understanding that helps in strengthening
the relationship. I came to know from my Balti friend M. Hasnan from
Baltistan, a young Balti scholar that people in Baltistan are desperate
to learn and preserve their language, as they have realized the significance
of their language in promoting social solidarity and in maintaining
their own identity and culture. You can access to his article on Balti
language at this URL. ( http://www.ladakhtimes.com/baltilanguage.htm)
We must emphasize on promoting the local language. Our language gradually
developed over the centuries. The Government of India observes Hindi
Week to promote the Hindi language as nantional language. In the similar
fashion the local government can also fix up a week in their official
calendar to promote the Ladakhi language, as a regional official language.
The scholars in the local Language should be provided grants for doing
research. The local government should take an initiative to introduce
an award in the field of Ladakhi literature. It will boost the moral
of the scholars to consistently work for the promotion and development
of the local language.
Strategy-4
Common Minimum Development Programme of Ladakh (Leh and Kargil)
Leh and Kargil have almost similar developmental constraints; in order
to deal with such constraints both the Autonomous Hill development Council
of Leh and Kargil can develop CPDP (Common Minimum Development Programme).
This would be a creative and innovative programme for both the local
governments to understand each other by sharing and learning from each
other. It will help them to develop a common goal and a vision for the
whole Ladakh. Besides developmental work the councilors can learn about
good governance from each other. There should be a minimum of two meetings
at councilor's level to discuss common plan while bridging the gap between
the two regions. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
The CMDP will help the local government to preserve, protect and promote
social harmony and to enforce the law without fear or favour and to
deal with all obscurantist and fundamentalist elements who seek to disturb
social amity and peace. It will help in ensuring sustain economic growth
that generates employment and sources of livelihood. It can address
the women issue in a more effective way by empowering women politically,
educationally and economically. Leh and Kargil council should give a
joint proposal to the state and centre government to establish a Centre
for Research and Development of Ladakh (CeRDoL).This centre can help
local governments and NGOs in policy formulation, monitoring, evaluation
and capacity building besides doing research on issues related to Ladakh.
Strategy-5
Youth Participation
Youth stands for energy,
enthusiasm, adventures, and spirit of taking risk. It's a stage in which
the individual is most active and dynamic physically, mentally, sexually
and socially. Youth are the most powerful force; in fact they are the
nature's finest force. We need youth, their strength, enthusiasm and
idealism, to help us make right what is wrong. Time and again this energy
has been poorly utilized or wrongly utilized for various purposes. The
history of world is full of youth's courage, convictions, commitment,
determination, contribution and accomplishment. Youth are vulnerable
because they are not adequately equipped with the right information,
not equipped with the right skills and immense peer, family and societal
pressure. One of the best ways to see the future of the society is to
see what the youth are doing in the presence. Youth from both Leh and
Kargil should come together at a common platform to debate, discuss
and argue on different developmental issues. In this way they can develop
and promote inter religion and region friendship. Educated unemployment
is becoming a major problem in Ladakh, the government should have a
clear policy on youth development. The goverment of India cannot afford
to see the sufferings of Ladakhi youth. It can learn from the past that
unemplyment in the border areas is loop hole in the goverment policy
on border secirity. Ladakhis are by nature peace loving and remained
loyal to India in all the conditions. Unemployment could be a threat
for weakening the border and internal peace and security. Government
of India, J&K, Autonomous Council, local NGOs, local entrepreneurs
and youth should come up with innovative ideas to generate employment
opportunities in Ladakh. Youth should come up with creative ideas to
strengthen the relations between and within the Buddhists and Muslims
or Leh and Kargil. Ultimately they are going to be the shaper of the
destiny of Ladakh's future, architect of peace and security.
Youth wants and deserves
a voice in our communities. Officials (both government and civil societies)
make decisions that affect our youth on a daily basis in their participation
and development. Over the last one decade we have seen young people
shaping or influencing local policies and programs in limited way. Nothing
is more important to the health of our democracy than the active engagement
of young people in representative government at the local level. The
split of LUTF was a blessing in disguise for the young people in Leh
as it has created few seats for youth in the local Council body. Youth
participation and involvement in local government promotes healthy development
of young people and it can also promote culture of peace. They will
be engaged in constructive work under the guidance of senior leaders.
People and government should encourage youth initiative and intervention
in social, political and economic development.
Strategy-6
Acceptance for differences
Diversity is the law of the
nature, and acceptance to the diversity assures peace in the world.
Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and
all that we are, toward creating a Ladakh that supports everyone irrespective
of differences. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute
the best that they have and all that they are. Acceptance of others,
their belief, their religion, their political ideology, their looks,
their culture, and their behaviors brings an inner peace and tranquility
instead of anger and resentment. Despite many cultural and linguistic
similarities between and within Ladakhi Buddhist and Muslim, Leh and
Kargil still it carries many differences, which needs to be nurtured
and respected. We all are human first before we are Buddhist or Muslims,
Leh pa or Kargil pa, Congress pa or LUTF pa, Shanma pa or Stodpa pa;
we must behave as a human. Religion should help us in making people
more peace loving and compassionate. Politics should help us to serve
the people in an effective and efficient way to build an equitable and
democratic Ladakh for all.
Strategy-7
Music and Arts
"Thank God I have music
to vent my emotions. I'd be in a prison if I didn't." Paula Cole.
Music is the language of the heart and the language of the heart transcends
the barriers of religion, region, sex, caste and colour. Music is a
beautiful healing process it begins with the self, and gradually expands
to your family, your neighbours, your society, your village, your country
the whole world. Preservation and promotion of traditional music and
arts can play a significant role in enhancing the culture of peace.
The traditional songs and dramas carry meaningful stories about people,
culture, harvest, marriage, nature, animals etc. Timely cultural exchange
of musicians and artists must be organized between and within Buddhists
and Muslims or Leh and Kargil. We can organize Leh-Kargil friendship
cultural festivals, in which artists from both the region can perform
on the same platform while exchanging their arts and culture. The department
for cultural academy can play a significant role in the promotion and
preservation of Ladakhi music, arts and folks. Music and arts must be
essential components of the school curriculum. The local government
should give special emphasis on the promotion local folks and arts.
We cannot blame the young generation if we are not providing a better
alternative in the form of local music. Traditional musicians and artists
should be employed as a teacher in the school. The department of Cultural
Academy can be a center for research and promotion of Ladakhi music,
folks and arts.
Strategy-8
Exchange Programme
I believe that people in
the long run are going to be more alert and informed to promote communal
harmony and peace. With that believe lying deep in my heart I am working
enthusistically with a dancing smile on my face. I have met with people
from Pakistan on a People to People contact programme last year 2005
at Jalandhar. I was amazed to see the aspirations and enthusiasm of
people of both the countries (India and Pakistan) for peace and harmony.
The local government, NGOs and religious intuitions should promote people
to people contact programme in Ladakh between and within Leh and Kargil
or Buddhists and Muslims. Spiritual leaders, educationist, students
and professionals can visit each other's region. They can learn from
each other system of governance, culture, people, institutions, families,
arts and folk. Leh and Kargil Autonomous Hill Development Council can
start an internship programme under which two graduate students from
the other region can be sponsored for one year to work as an intern
with the council.
"Coming together is
the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
Henry Ford
The author can be reached
at [email protected]