I had the good fortune of having taught a short three-week course in an M.A programme of Peace and Development Studies presently held at Universitat Jaume I of Castellon in Spain. Castellon is a city on the eastern coast of Spain where the blue waters of the Mediterranean stretch to an equallay blue horizon. The couse takes students from all over the world and is held in English though it does have a Spanish component which is not compulsory for those who know only English. My own component was on ‘language policies in Post-Colonial South Asia’ but I converted it to a study of language and ethnic conflicts all over the world with focus on South Asia. The students came from so many different countries that I could not resist taking advantage of their knowledge. This meant that, apart from my lectures and the readings I had recommended, we all taught each other. We discussed the language and ethnic conflicts of Canada, Latvia, Spain, Sri Lanka and so on. We also touched upon the language policies of countries as far apart as Bolivia, Columbia, Finland, the Phillipines, Palestine, Israel and the United States. The students discussed these issues in groups and then gave presentations which were very well done though they did not have access to all the background material which might have been available elsewhere. This made us all aware of many new things and gave us new insights into the causes of such conflicts and the possibility of resolving them.
This made me wonder whether we in Pakistan, and indeed in South Asia, cannot benefit from such a course. We do have M.A courses in Defence and Strategic Studies which might be adequate from the theoretical point of view and might, indeed, cater for the defence needs of Pakistan. However, as far as I know their focus in not specifically on peace. My idea is that after the usual M.A in Defence Studies some of our students should be given the option of studying conflict resolution as a specialized interest. The reason why the M.A course, such as in Quaid-i-Azam University, is necessary is because it is the only substitute we in Pakistan have for the relevant B.A. As it is, our B.A is only of two years and is really somewhat more advanced than high school. At best it is equivalent to what is called Advanced Level (A-level) in the British system of education and 12th grade in the American one. Moreover, even this sub-standard B.A is not available specifically in Defence and Strategic Studies. Thus, the Peace Studies M.A should come after the present M.A course which should remain as it is. This new M.A should only be of one year as it is in Castellon. It should also be taught in the same way i.e through modules of three weeks each. Even the evaluation system should be the same i.e each module should be examined by a presentation and an essay. In the end a thesis should be presented for final examination by the student.
This means that, unlike other Pakistani degrees, this new M.A should not have written examinations. Another new feature should be extensive student participation through workshops, seminars, role-playing, simulation techniques and discussions. This kind of programme does not need extensive resources though, of course, the students would have to be provided with the internet, research papers, books and qualified faculty to guide them. The advantages would be that students would learn to focus on peace and become, hopefully, more conscious of and sensitive towards the need for peace and the possibility of planning for peace. This, I think, is lacking in our young people who keep reading lessons glorifying war since early childhood. If South Asia is to move eventually towards normalcy and peace, then a course to make at least some educated young people aware of peace is a welcome step, albeit a very small one, towards such a consummation.
At Castellon, however, the distinctive feature of the Centre of International Studies---the place which offers the course---is that it attracts students from many parts of the world. It also invites faculty from all over the world. This in itself is highly educative. After all when you meet people and talk to them then, even without there being any intellectual focus, you learn a lot. As it is, the course offers a focus too---peace! So you learn about diverse world views, new angles or problems you thought you knew everything about and how people can almost as easily think of peace as they can about war. In my case, as I mentioned earlier, we learnt about language policies and how they can lead to increased or decreased conflict in different situations in the world.
At Castellon the programme is supported by the United Nations. Indeed, the whole idea was to have a University for Peace but it is still to be put in place. A related programme is also being run in Austria though I have no detailed knowledge about it. If we in Pakistan can manage to persuade the United Nations to support the programme we too could attract an international student body and faculty. That, however, can only be a distant dream for the moment which people more practical that myself can pursue if they want to.
Another attraction of Castellon, as I said in the beginning, is that the students and faculty are lodged on the beach called Benicassim (yes, probably derived from the Arabic Bani Qasim). Here one can sit entranced by the dancing azure waves of the Mediterranean or look back upon mountains dotted with trees. There are orderly rows upon rows of palms but I have no idea whether they were brought in by the Arabs and Berbers who once ruled Spain or grew in this part of the world even earlier. However, a dish called pillaye (pronounced piaye) is a variant form of our own pullao though they put rabbit’s meat in it while we do with goat-meat (which we erroneously call mutton). Moreover, if someone is good at travelling, the attractions of the Al-Hamra (Granada) or the sculptor Gaudi’s unique buildings in Barcelona are not too far off. However, we in Pakistan too have much to offer the foreign student and faculty members. We take the splendour of our Northern Areas and the Himalayan foothills for granted but such high mountains and picturesque valleys are hardly to be seen in the world. Indeed, I doubt if any view can beat that of the snowcapped Tirich Mir as seen from Chitral except, of course, that of the Everest from places in Nepal or the aerial view of the Nanga Parbat. We also have our historical buildings in Lahore and Multan and a number of other places though we do not take much care of them. Besides, if the students really go into our villages they might be surprised to find out how warm and hospitable our people are. That, certainly, will warm the heart of anyone who wants peace. There is a lot of potential in Pakistan---but who will take the first step to make use of it?