Southasia’s free speech conundrum

The impact of ethno-religious conflicts, hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric expose an ironic anomaly in Southasia: while the post-1947 demarcation of borders has suffocated ancient trade, transport and human links, the 'borderless world' facilitated by electronic media and social networking has played a catalytic role in inciting ethnic, religious and nationalistic sentiments. The reactions by Southasians to the heinous terrorist attack on cartoonists in Paris have conveniently overlooked the fact that in our part of the world, the use of social networking to incite communal hatred in individual countries has continued unabated, and media in the region have often portrayed xenophobic images of our neighbours. The debate centred on this particular incident that we have been drawn into has little relevance for Southasia's collective futures.

This is not to deny the importance of the debate on freedom of expression and religious sensitivity in Southasia, as has been made apparent by reactions to publications by Taslima Nasreen, Wendy Doniger and Perumal Murugan, among others. However, amid the cacophony of op-eds and expert opinions that follow incidents such as the Charlie Hebdo attacks, we often neglect to undertake contextual and policy-centric analyses. There is a growing need to examine the interplay between freedom of expression, religious sensitivity, people's perceptions, and the use of modern communication and information technology, and the impact of these on communal harmony and regional cohesion in Southasia.