Written by Laurence Brahm - Published by South China Morning Post on 02/27/2007

How tensions can be melted away through diplomacy and discussion. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing travelled to India this month, for trilateral discussions that included Russia. India-China relations were once sharply estranged, but now the neighbouring nations seek a consensus on border issues and security. This way, resources can be rechannelled into easing poverty on both sides of the Himalayas.

Pakistan, once allied with China against India, is watching with cautious optimism. That is because a new, cross-Himalayan consensus of economic development and security will be in everyone’s interest. In praising the virtue of this approach, one Pakistani diplomat noted: “The western model of aggressive capitalism based on aggrandisement of resources and the industrial-military complex – with the added, moralist attitude of ‘we are right’ – is not only inappropriate for most developing countries. [What is more], the world will not allow such an agenda.”

So, are that model and agenda sustainable?

Such questions were asked widely last month, after an American air strike on a madrassa school in Pakistan killed 80 children. That infuriated people throughout Central and South Asia. It swelled the chorus of voices calling for revenge against such a blindly aggressive misuse of power.

Suicide bomb attacks in Islamabad and Peshawar, just days later, were possibly attempts at retaliation. Anger was further fuelled by the western media’s widespread failure to report the Islamic school’s destruction – even though they reported the suicide bombings. Another frustration was the limited impact of the non-mainstream media’s voice.

On the day of the first suicide bombing, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said: “America’s approach of shooting all Taleban will not work. They need to be engaged and brought into the conversation. Military action alone will not solve problems. Political and economic development must be combined together to wean people away from extremists.”

One might not expect Afghan President Hamid Karzai to be thinking the same thing. His political and physical existence depends entirely on the presence of American forces in Afghanistan, but he knows this situation is neither sustainable nor pragmatic in the long run.

The American troops will go home one day, but Afghan and Pakistani governments will still be stuck dealing with the Taleban. Insiders understand that all political forces, including the Taleban, must be engaged and brought into the mainstream political process if Afghanistan and the rest of central-south Asia are to have sustainable peace.

Academic solutions created in the isolation of Washington are not appropriate policy for the rest of the world. Iraq is an example of what has gone wrong. While it now has a US-endorsed, so-called system of democratic elections, innocent people cannot walk the streets and are even bombed in their own homes. So now that they have American-style democracy, what use is it?

Mr Khan speaks with both authority and deep concern. Pakistan’s problems involve 2 million refugees from different tribal groups living in camps on its long and porous border with Afghanistan. Without peace in Afghanistan, regional economic development will stagnate – while the mainstream western media continues to fuel images of terrorism.

The media provides thin explications of the complexities behind the problem, feeding stereotypes to Hollywood-brainwashed audiences.

“We are so enamoured by sound bites that there is no depth, no understanding of the issues, and this creates a very dangerous situation in the world,” said Mr Khan. “They [the mainstream western media] become fanatical in their own way.

“Globalisation should be about more than just the spread of trade, but cover the spread of ideas as well. It should not reinforce prejudices and, in turn, negative trends.”

Laurence Brahm is a global activist, international mediator, political columnist and author. He is the leading advocate of a fresh development paradigm - The Himalayan Consensus - an innovative approach to development.

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