Artificial Boundaries: The Broken Heart of Eurasia
The border studies session ¡ÈArtificial Boundaries: The Broken Heart of Eurasia¡É was conducted at the SRC international symposium on July 10, 2009.
What was truly remarkable about this session was that all three foreign guests came not just from South Asia but from areas plagued by conflict, such as Kashmir and Peshawar.
Prof. KAW (Univ. of Kashmir) pointed out that at one time several transmission channels connected the surrounding areas, which brought free trade, cross-cultural and ideological fertilization. It was also the main source of livelihood for scores of peoples. However, these overland connections fractured in 1947 due to the Partition of India, which resulted in the formation of several states, including India and Pakistan.
Mr. LIWAL and Prof. KHAN stressed the negative legacy of foreign forces in the areas between Afganistan and Pakistan. Mr. LIWAL reminded those in attendance that foreign interventions produced the fragmentation and polarization of the Pashtuns and the areas they occupied, resulting in Afghanistan becoming a failed state. Also, he argued that this situation allowed the tribal areas to become a hub of terrorist activity. Dr. KHAN (Peshawar Univ.) stressed how the British-led FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) destabilized both regions politically and the Pakistani government, thus leaving FATA and the region underdeveloped.
Dr. Takako Hirose (Discussnat, Senshu Univ.) evaluated the meaning of the session as ¡Èactual¡É views from the borderland, not the views from the capitals. Nonetheless, Dr. Hirose called into question the idealization of the pre-partition era shared by the three guests as well as the overestimation of external factors. She suggested that internal forces were not simply victims of external forces. Each society, she continued, had disadvantages and took the opportunities provided by external factors. Prof. Yoshida (Chair, Hiroshima Univ.) suggested both the view from the borderland and the capital must be balanced to gain the actual representation of border-related conflicts.
Our Global COE program will issue proceedings of this session this winter. (Fujimori)
Dr. Iwashita (SRC), Prof. KAW (University of Kashmir, Srinagar),
Mr. LIWAL (Regional Studies Center of Afghanistan), Prof. KHAN (Peshawar University, Pakistan),
Dr. HIROSE (Senshu University), Prof. YOSHIDA (Hiroshima University)