There will be serious doubts about how Southasian we are if we cannot care for those who are suffering, and then rise to do something about it. In particular, there is a serious empathy deficit among the countries of our region today, where we seem unable to put ourselves in the sandals of someone across the frontier. We are made remote, of course, firstly by the borders that separate us, and the media that largely concentrates on news within those borders. But we also fail the test of rationality, each of us, because our vision is affected by ideological blinkers. Lastly, perhaps we keep quiet because, on many an occasion, we lack the courage of our convictions.
Take the case of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, charged with blasphemy and hounded from her own country in 1994 thereafter, thrashing about Scandinavia till finding refuge in Calcutta, from where she was expelled this past September, eventually travelling to Rajasthan and ending up in Delhi. Her portfolio of awards and fellowships are now all from the West. No Southasian (or very few, and none from the mainstream of any sector) dare welcome her, such is the hold of radical Islamist populism.
A country's politicians and administrators are supposed to be pushed to take stands by its intelligentsia. But too many in the intellectual vanguard seem to take refuge in bogus reasoning. From Dhaka to Delhi and even Lahore, barring a few stalwart conscience-keepers, the prevailing attitude is largely one of, 'We have enough problems of our own, without this self-promotional lady complicating our lives by deliberately inviting fatwas, beheading threats and exile.' But, of course, if we are all truly children of the Enlightenment, wherever we may live today, then our duty is to stand up for the rights of those such as Taslima, regardless.
The intellectuals in each of our countries must rise above arguments without merit, and accept the indisputable fact that Taslima Nasrin is an author whose rights have been abused in her own country. And that, as such, any one of the other countries in the region must be pressured to provide asylum. For instance, the Nepali government must be asked by the Kathmandu intelligentsia to provide asylum for Taslima in the event that she is ultimately ousted from India.