I would like to
look at the issue of community and nationalism and its continued relevance at
the present, and in particular to analyse its association with
authoritarianism, militarisation, nuclearisation, terrorism, and questions of
war and peace in South Asia. Within
this region, there is a very close parallel between the current situation in
Sri Lanka and developments which have taken place much earlier in India,
Pakistan, and later Bangladesh. In both cases, we see the development of strong
authoritarian tendencies, linked up to either religion or ethnicity.