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SD Conferences
Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives
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Sub-ThemesPeace and Peoples' Rights The panels under the sub-theme of Peace and People’s Rights will analyze the different forms of conflicts in Pakistan and South Asia, especially during the past year; and how a conflict situation can be resolved or mitigated. The sub-theme will look at numerous concepts, values and practices that produce non-violence, peaceful coexistence and peaceful resolutions of conflicts in indigenous cultures. Panels will attempt to highlight the issue of arms conflicts in the South Asian region and Afghanistan as shown and depicted in various films and documentaries. It will focus on resistance literature that is being written in different national and regional languages in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and analyze the pre-dominant complex themes. It will also examine the resistance literature that is being written in different national and regional languages in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and analyze the pre-dominant complex themes. More details of the panels are discussed below: Panel 1: Peace and conflict The panel on peace and conflict would present a people centered comparative analysis of how the presence or absence of conflict affects the lives of ordinary people in Pakistan. This comparative analysis would be based on the findings of SDPI’s research that was conducted in the first quarter of 2006 in different parts of Pakistan, that we had categorized as: active conflict zone; vulnerable to conflict zone and; non-conflict zone with an objective to redefine conflict, conflict zones and security concepts in Pakistan as well as to reconceptualize peace in relation to everyday life as part of a process of deconstructing and embedding the concept of peace in civil society. Speakers on this panel would share their findings on the impact of different forms of conflict and violence that they found at the intra and inter- state levels like: the war on terror and its direct linkages with the military operations in Waziristan; sectarian conflict; ethnic conflict; military operations in Balochistan and; the structural violence and inequalities giving rise to the criminal violence all over Pakistan, breaking the myth of peace. The speakers would also ponder over possible solutions to resolve or at least minimize the conflicts and insecurities of people at different levels and would give their recommendations in this regard. Contact: Panel 2: South Asian people’s movements: bringing development home A nexus of policy makers, donors, implementation agencies, advisors and consultants, traditionally, drove development. Predictably, this nexus failed to deliver – in fact, it preyed upon people and the resources that fed them. A subsequent phase, ostensibly, brought people into the loop. The process generated inclusive, people-friendly terms such as “dialogues,” “consultations,” “participation,” “empowerment;” introduced “civil society” as the new catalyst of development, “vulnerability” as a sustainable concept and the “private sector” as a dynamic partner. Matters appear to have improved. There is definitely more awareness and money to give it material shape and direction. Seminars and conferences profile poverty in poignant terms, and there is no dearth of programs seeking to eradicate it. However, honest scholars have lost jobs for pointing out a lack of tangible outcomes. People’s movements appear to bear out what discerning scholars have been at pains to reveal. Are we in a new phase, where the poor have taken matters into their own hands? The landscape across South Asia provides ample testimony of people’s movements agitating for resource rights and entitlements over land, water and forest resources. Both governments and donors appear distinctly uncomfortable with this paradigm shift – one that takes development out of the box and confronts them with its unpleasant realities. We invite you to present your research on these movements across sectors and themes at the SDC forum to enlighten partners about the South Asian experience and contributing to building a depository of research on the subject. Contact:
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