Secular South Asia

[Tein Network]

June 3, 1999

RE: Thank you for your logical and scholarly comment on Kashmir !

Dear Mr. Tilak,

I am grateful to you for your insight on Kashmir ! I agree fully with your
insight in this difficult issue.  And now our task must be to convince every
Kashmiri that they must "choose", nay, "demand" the culture of "plurality"
vs a a culture based on one religion !

And the "benefits" of such a "demand" by every Kashmiri must be more
economic prosperity, more choice and more freedom and opportunities for
their children and for them. This is the cause to which we all need to
make a contribution whether we live in India or America, if we value
India's plurality and treat it as a most precious inheritance from historic
India of five thousand years of civilization !!

This must also be the choice of every Indian muslim and every Indian who
has a different religion than the majority, including every tribal who
live in India ! Also, I take pride in the fact that another "minority",
Buddhists from Tibet found sanctuary in India when they were forced to
leave their homeland only a few years ago.

I am taking the liberty to share your comments with ORNET, a
sub-group of Indians who I think will appreciate your comments
as I did.

Thank you very much, Mr. Tilak !

Avi Dey,
Coordinator,
TEIN Former Soviety/India Roundtable


On Thu, 3 Jun 1999, Shrinivas Tilak wrote:

>     As if by design, Kashmir is back on the world stage just as the crisis
> in Kosovo is heading toward resolution. Conventional wisdom is that Kashmir
> cannot be part of India because the majority of its population is Muslim. On
> the other hand, the world expects India to be secular.
>     I think the two propositions are incompatible. Kashmir is the acid test
> for India's secularism. If Kashmir goes, India will cease to be a secular
> state.
>     The solution to the problem lies, I believe, in making South Asia
> secular--in precept and in practice. Turkey's long experience with the
> secular ideal needs to be studied by all those who wish well of South Asia.
> I would appreciate if members of this list can provide references to
> comparative studies done in this field.
>     Shrinivas Tilak
>
>
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