Recognition of Identities: A Path to Reasonable Reconciliation

What is wrong with the monolithic nation-state building projects in multi-ethnic South Asian states? The states often, suffer from paranoia regarding the recognition of the minority ethnic identities. Most of the time states fail to acknowledge minority identities based on the principle of self-identification. What it does is some sort of imposition of identities upon the minority sections of the society. This causes discontent among the minority ethnic communities; because recognition and identity are basic human needs which are non-negotiable. Recognition of identities seems to be a stepping stone towards managing ethnic conflict. The issue of recognition of identity of the peoples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is a case in point. The paper searches for a rahi aql or a reasonable path to reconciliation among the conflicting groups in a multi-ethnic state. The conflict that is examined here is predominantly ethnic conflict between the majority and the ethnic minority communities.