Sometimes crisis really seem intractable. It is then that we need an extra ordinary effort. And it is then our collective genius is tested. In a situation of perpetual crisis, no sooner it appears that things are getting better that it relapses into chaotic breakdown. The moment some relief visits, and the dangers of the situation move away, things slide back into the same abyss of hopelessness. This has been a common feature of long standing conflicts world over, till the time some formidable leadership, with a radical shift in thinking and policy, rescued the people caught in that conflict warp. The world is this time facing a serious deficit of leadership and absence of ideas on this count.
There are multiple conflicts that besmear the otherwise calm face of this land, but there is hardly any willingness among the parties involved to resolve the conflicts. Border disputes, communal polarisation, contested claims of sovereignty, historical schisms, and much more. The worst part of it is that these disputes are getting, one way or the other, juxtaposed on the global contest for power. The rise of new powers, the reemergence of the weakened powers, and the refusal of the long existing superpower to yield – all this is making the world a dangerous place to live in. The only, and the most scary, question that hits each conscientious soul in such a situation is: what is the future holding for us. The answers are not very encouraging. There is a reason to feel depressed. In all the countries in this region the politics is nosediving into crisis. Different, and dangerous, assertions in the realm of culture, history and geography are badly affecting the contours of domestic politics, and foreign policy. In this situation the existing relationships between the peoples of South Asia are coming under strain and this doesn’t augur well for us. What can save us in such a situation is a leadership that has the capacity to rise above the narrow confines of a parochial politics. Another equally important, if not more, is the production of fresh ideas. The intellectuals around the world are under an obligation to break brains and come up with some workable ideas that can pave way for resolving the existing conflicts.