Political Roles of Religious Communities in South Asia

CONFERENCE

February 25th – 26th, 2010, Traders Hotel, Singapore

Organized by the Institute for Security and Development Policy and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies

 

During 2007-2008 the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) started a project of a series of “local” seminars and a workshop on Religion and Security Politics in South Asia. Three seminars have been held, one in Islamabad, one in Kolkata and one in Kabul.

The intention was to bring together scholars and people with various religious affiliations to discuss a number of key questions and to bring together scholars and people with various religious affiliations to discuss a number of key questions:

The seminar participants consist of nationals from Afghanistan, Pakistan India and Sweden. The aim is to have as diverse a list of participants as possible including representatives from government, minority organizations, academia, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The focus of the local seminars is multidisciplinary, including perspectives from sociology, economy, political science, law, and the history of religions. Each local seminar has taken the specific situation in the country where the seminar was held as point of departure.

Conference Description

After three seminars in Islamabad, Kolkata and Kabul, the Conference in Singapore will continue the discussions from the local seminars but with a wider regional perspective. The workshop will focus on the political roles of religious communities in South Asia in its entirety and how their roles relate to the region’s strategic picture. Thus the key topics have been formulated as follows:

  • Laws, Constitution and Religious Communities
  • Experiences of emerging conflicts and Conflict Prevention in Relations between Religious Communities

Two to three persons will represent each country and they have been chosen with the aim to have the best possible representation of professional expertise from different necessary disciplines.

Any queries concerning the conference can be directed to Anna von Wachenfelt.