Reasons for insurgence in South Asia (Essay Sample)

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Introduction:
Insurgency in Afghanistan has expanded beyond its strongholds in South East. The Taliban has bolstered its influence in the eastern and central provinces. Corruption between corrupt government officials and insurgents in Kabul has increased and this has led to increased network of criminal activities in Afghanistan. This paper will establish why there been so many ethnic and leftist insurgencies in South Asia. It will also examine the looming threats posed by the Maoist insurgency and other groups of insurgents to the South Asia states and provides recommendations to curb its spread. Moreover, the paper will analyze the historical background of these insurgencies as well as their root cause.
With America and other powerful states focused on the struggle against insurgency and Islamic terrorism, globalization effects have swelled ranks of Maoist insurgent groups in South Asia and India. The marginalized groups in the two countries have been abandoned by their political and socioeconomic systems and their response is to look for an alternative system, which is provided the Maoist insurgents. The main aim of the insurgents is to create a counter-state that will address grievances of the society. It should be noted that a "Red Corridor" exists in South Asia from Sri Lanka to Nepal, and base areas have been created in India that are running unchecked. Notably, networks of Maoist parties are growing rapidly and continue to be mobilizing in South Asia. India is fighting to combat an imminent threat from this group, even though it is groping for solutions blindly. The Maoists intend to attack India’s export and high tech sector with the aim of thwarting the foreign investments and bringing the political and economic progress of the country to a halt. India-U.S. strategic and economic relations are being threatened by the Maoist menace. Arguably, America is not well equipped to deal with this insurgency group as "as insurgency studies and counterinsurgency strategies have instead focused on the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, discounting the Maoist strategic approach as irrelevant and dated" (Baladas 54).
According to Ganguly Sumit, the politics of South Asia focus on the state formation, democracy, the effects of colonialism, rise of religious parties and lower caste, economic development, urban-rural tension, ethnicity, and insurgence in the region. Ganguly further argues that South Asia is made of a quarter of the world’s population and holds the largest number of poor people. Accordingly, South Asia is a home to large numbers of insurgencies, which includes the Naga insurgency in India and LTTE insurgency in Sri Lanka. India and Sri Lanka have had a stable democratic path while other countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan have fallen to dictatorship but later managed to rise into stable democratic politics. Comparative politics, democratization, political economy, political parties, social movements, and insurgencies helps one understand the experiences of South Asian countries. For example, one will be in a position to understand the reasons why India has remained democratic while other countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan have had military regimes; why political parties and caste have succeeded in India and not in Bangladesh and Pakistan. There are reasons many insurgencies have occurred in Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. Arguably, there are several theories explaining these phenomena in South Asia (Sumit, 79).
Paul Staniland, on the other hand, alleges that the problem of insurgency in South Asia is a main obstacle to the security and stability of the country. Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan have been struggling with the problem of insurgency. This paper will look into the three approaches used to curb the problem of insurgencies in India, Pakistan, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The approaches are evaluated in three dimensions: civil-military relations and political dimensions, use of supportive forces (such as artillery, air power and technology, doctrine, experiences, and scope of counter-insurgency activities), and strategies of reconciliation and reconstruction.
In Afghanistan, the U.S government is helping the country to attain it political stability by destroying avenues through which terrorist groups operate. In India, the government is focused on providing governance that promotes economic growth and improved livelihood of citizens living in Kashmir and Jammu. Moreover, it aims at curbing the existing insurgencies operating from the northeastern region of India. On the other hand, Pakistan is facing internal problems of terror attacks because of its role in providing support to proxy insurgents in neighboring India and Afghanistan (Paul, 179).
Brass Paul asserts that the root cause of northeastern insurgencies in India is the socio-economic, political, and religious domains. India has faced more than thirty forms of insurgencies and this has led to alienation of the people involved. The insurgencies are divided into political grievances (for example, Kashmir, Khalistan, Punjab), Assam movements for economic and social justice (for example, Maoist and northeastern states), and on religious grounds, like Laddakh. The three main grounds sometimes overlap. There are sixteen belligerent groups and sixty-eight terrorist groups in India. Asia is made up of a multiplicity of races, languages, religions, and tribes. Arguably, this has led to creation of sovereign entities of all types of religious and tribal conquerors. Like Europe, the map of Asia has been changing because of interwar. After the colonial rule, colonies merged to form new political states and new administrative without taking into consideration the aspirations and preferences of the people. The people in these territories lost their identity and freedom and hence were being ruled by aliens. The new democracy was of no economic or political advantage to the people. Hundreds of religious and ethnic groups that are fiercely independent and sectarian in nature passionately defended their religious, culture, and language, hence clashing with rival groups and challenging the writ of the government. The artificial nature of the new form of governance created by the British colonialist and adopted by the post-colonial India led to violent reactions in numerous hotspots (Paul, 106).
Caste-based discriminations also have been a major cause of insurgencies in India. Caste divides people into warring groups and has no place in the modern world. The Braham’s and the ruling class play the sinister game of caste class. The issue of caste is horrific, especially to the Hindus who practice it. The Hindus argue that it is a sanctioned concept that cannot be changed by humans. Dr. Ambedkar, anti-caste activist, acknowledges that the caste system cannot be disintegrated without doing away with all the Hindu shastras. Dallits are the largest Indian population, but this population is deprived of the economic boom. The Dallits are barred from accessing education, good healthcare, food, and job opportunities. They work in poor jobs and they are denied from entering cremation grounds, temples, river-bathing points, and are not allowed to share a barber with Hindus of upper caste. Dallits receive severe punishment when they transgress given orders. In Tamil Nadu, forty-five special types of untouchable common practices are installed. Dallits have filed many complaints on the grounds of discrimination when in hospitals, work places, and schools. India is an independent country but the citizens are not independent because there exists a group of people termed as untouchable because of their social status (Baruah, 199). Of note, M.K Gandhi supported the caste system by claiming that it is an important part of Hinduism and hence cannot be eliminated. The caste system creates hatred among the poor majority, and as a result they have resorted to violence aimed at curbing the exploiting systemand fighting for their equality, dignity, and human rights. The Maoist Naxalite is an uprising insurgent group from the eastern India with an aim is to fight this form of discrimination. About sixty percent of the Indian population is and poor living at the margins of life, lacking most of the necessities. India has the highest illiteracy rate in the world, with seventy percent of the people lacking clean water, sanitation, job opportunities, adequate shelter, and health care. The minority group is mostly left behind and if the situation of poverty is not fast addressed, the country will be divided by the rage and despair of the poor.
Sanjib Baruah argues that the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has spread its stronghold to the far southeast. Taliban have influenced and controlled the central-eastern province by putting in a shadow government and using the vulnerability of the central government that is crippled by corruption and a corrosive war economy. Collusion between the corrupt government officials and insurgents in Kabul has led to an increase of criminal networks in the heartland of Afghanistan. The number of attacks in Kabul has decreased, but the insurgent networks have gained power in district and provinces close to the city. Taliban attacks on the city are not only focused on gaining physical control of the city, but also controlling it psychologically (Baruah, 232).
Barry Buzan believes that an aggressive campaign to assassinate the government and infiltrate Afghan security forces has enabled the government to expand and reach to the top (Barry, 34). Insurgency is high in the rural areas of Logar, Wardak, and Ghazni, where the rate of unemployment is high and the presence of government is almost absent. In 2010, when the U.S. troops were sent to Afghanistan, the rise of violence increased from the Ta...