STEPHEN COHEN: I think what is very disturbing is that while this is the region with the largest population under democratic rule, it has become one of the most violent regions in the world. This is true of India and India’s neighbours.

India has always had the international reputation of being a state of non-violent political activity. But you don’t see much of it here. There is a lot of coercion, intimidation, money power here. I won’t say it’s very disheartening, but it’s a fact of life we have to recognise. The Indian military, for example, has been involved in paramilitary or counter-insurgency operations against Indian citizens for a number of years — beginning with the Nagas, right up to the present.

I’m not quite sure if there’s an exact cause. But clearly one cause is being hit by globalisation — in India in particular and also in other South Asian states. I’d say even more so in the northwest frontier of Pakistan. Traditional societies are being opened up to the world and some of them can adjust, but some just go haywire. Young people between the age of 16 and 22 years are attracted to violent non-parliamentarian means of protesting and pursuing their interests. That, of course, involves a challenge to the state. This is common everywhere. In Nepal we have seen a revolution. In Pakistan the tribal area is being cracked open like an eggshell to globalisation, which takes the form of radical Islamisation and revival of traditional (in this case, Pashtun) identities.

... contd.