Sir,
As the world observed September 15 as World Democracy Day, India has rightly advocated the need for an inclusive government in Afghanistan. Delhi also voiced its genuine concerns and clearly outlined its expectations that the Taliban doesn’t allow the use of Afghan soil for terrorism. The global community would concur with such expectations.
This is important as no one knows what policy Afghanistan’s new Taliban Government will adopt – officially and in practice – in so far as the country’s non-Islamist traditions are concerned. Given the Taliban’s obscurantist and exclusivist background, it is hard to imagine that they will adopt an inclusive approach of their own accord. Besides their impact on the fate of Afghanistan’s non-Muslims, Taliban’s policies will have wider ramifications in other Islamic countries in Central Asia.
The global community would do well to first realise and then impress upon the new Afghan leadership that in the name of accommodation, one cannot accommodate doctrines that have thrived, in the first place, on intolerance. No aspirational community can accept straitjacketing in matters of belief systems. Humanity has paid a heavy price for monopolist approaches when it comes to spirituality. Now, in the lure of re-establishing democratic credentials, it would be foolhardy to recognise those who refuse to recognise others.
Harihar Swarup
on e-mail
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