8/3/2019 Book Review, Bridging Partition.

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marks of territorial identity.Pakistani classical dancer, SheemaKermani, theatre activist MadihaGohar and band manager ShehryarAhmad deliberate over theiremotionally emancipatoryexperiences of working with theirSouth Asian counterparts.

Building on the enrichedunderstanding of a multilayeredpeace process in South Asia, the lastsection highlights the lessons,

explores the limits and points outthe way forward. The retired Indiannaval chief turned peace activistLaxminarayan Ramdas outlines thechallenges posed by the military inIndia and Pakistan.

While mapping the terrain ofcitizen diplomacy, the editors arecelebratory yet critical of thepeoples peace process. They hint atthe inability of the citizensmovement to look outside of itself interms of its constituency which isrestricted to an urban educated eliteand non-governmental organisationintelligentsia. For a sustainable peacemovement to take root, the nextgeneration of peace activists have to

be more inclusive and broad based.What is required is the consolidationand institutionalisation of cross-

border citizen networks for peaceand cooperation, initially created onthe basis of deep personal relationsnurtured by the exiting generation. I

Pakistans checkered history of civil rights is limited by its ability tocritically reflect on its past struggles. Often, when social movementsrecede, they leave few organised records of their endeavours.

Historical documentation defeats collective amnesia by leaving thefootprints of peoples struggles on the ephemeral terrain of history. In thecontext of a fragile peace process in South Asia, this is precisely what theeditors, the late scholar Smitu Kothari and physicist Zia Mian, an amplyqualified duo by virtue of their long standing commitment for peace inSouth Asia, have set out to achieve in Bridging Partition: Peoples Initiative

for Peace between India and Pakistan.With 21 essays, divided into five thematic sections, the book offers

critical reflections on the possibilities and limits of a social movement for

peace and democracy in South Asia by recording diverse experiences ofpeaceniks and civil society activists. It contains the right mix of academicand policy papers, personal and political essays and reflective andposition pieces, written by activists, journalists, writers, business people,retired government officials and soldiers both from India and Pakistan.

Dr Mubashir Hasan, who leads the citizens diplomacy from Pakistan,provides an overview of efforts for organising people to people dialogue.He also chronicles the success of citizen-based cross-border alliances,coalitions and networks informing state policies. In a complimentary essayfrom a post-colonial perspective on state and civil society in India,Sumanta Banerjee, explores the (ad)ventures of inter-people relations andthe states response to counter-hegemonic discourses. An older generationof writers, journalists and peace activists like Kuldip Nayar, AnandPatwardhan, I A Rehman and Pervez Hoodbhoy offer revealing accountsof the peace process by focusing on their personal experiences .

A section on womens education and labour brings together essayswritten from a feminist viewpoint. If veteran scholar-activist KamlaBhasin remembers her quarter century of building bridges betweenIndia and Pakistan, then journalist Beena Sarwar meditates on the roleof women in building peace through women-led initiatives in Pakistan.Lalita Ramdas explores how the myths of hostile nationalism intextbooks can be exploded through peace education to create moretolerant perceptions of identity among the younger generation in Indiaand Pakistan. Jamila Verghese dwells on her struggle to forgeinstitutional linkages between educational academies in both countries.Karamat Ali and Amrita Chhachhi document theirefforts for creating South Asian labour initiatives.

Writing on culture, contributors try to bring downthe cultural divide between India and Pakistan bystressing shared cultural and artistic heritage thatcontinues to inform contemporary arts in the twocountries. Indian literary critic Nirupama Duttsurveys literature produced by literary giants in Indiaand Pakistan only to find short stories, novels andpoems motivated by the spirit of inter-communalharmony. Her observation that there is no literatureof hatred in South Asia that can be challenged byreferring to popular Urdu Islamic historical fiction,pioneered by Saadat Hasan Mantos contemporaryNasim Hijazi in Pakistan. Narendra Panjwani usesBolloywood cultural imagery to argue how a complex

South Asian composite culture has been createdthrough Indian cinema which defies any political

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TheHerald,October2010

Citizens as Diplomats

By Nadeem Omar Tarar

Bridging Partition:Peoples Intitiatives forPeace Between India andPakistan

Edited by Smitu Kothariand Zia MianOrient Black SwanIndia, 2010Price: 995 rupees