CONFLICT AS AN INEVITABLE PHENOMENON: ANALYZING CONFLICTS OF CONTEMPORARY WORLD
BY: FIZZAH ALI*

Amidst growing conflicts in contemporary world, peace remains an elusive concept and all attempts of conflict resolution failed to develop a real mechanism for solving and settling the sporadic number of these conflicts.
From the very beginning of this world, the history of mankind is predominantly conflictual, whether these conflicts were existed in between tribes, clans, regions or in between the countries.
The contemporary world is no different: much fury and disputes, nothing beyond.
From the relentless turmoil in Israel, the recent war between Israel and Lebanon, the crisis in Balochistan, the intermittent sabre-rattling between Pakistan and India, and the ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka, the present world is witnessing constant peace efforts that invariably ended in a stalemate.
Let’s consider the conflict first which has recently shaken the internal politics and society of Pakistan: the Balochistan crisis. The province was in shambles since the independence of Pakistan, but the situation resulted in devastation when the Baloch chieftain, Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a military operation. The government was failed to settle the dispute with Baloch leaders through negotiations, and the recent military operation has created resentment among the people of Balochistan. If this conflict will not solve peacefully it would further intensify the situation and be proven the notion that conflict is inevitable in the societies where the people are ignorant and believes in militarism.
In Middle East, the ‘road map to peace’ has been in pipeline for nearly a decade but international mediation efforts notwithstanding, the parties involved have been unable to find out common grounds. So the insurgency and counter-insurgency continues.
The July 2006, Israel-Lebanon war has further accelerate the gravity of ongoing conflict. In the massive air attacks by Israeli army on southern Lebanon, the country suffered most extensive damages with 1,300 causalities. The war stopped after exactly 33 days, brought death and destruction as the Lebanese have rarely seen before. Again the role of international community and of United Nations was very disappointing for stopping the Israeli aggression. Due to recent conflict between Israel and Lebanon the future of conflict resolution in Middle East turned gloomy in an instant. And peace stood silent.
Halfway across the southern hemisphere, Sri Lanka has been facing a civil strife since 1983 mostly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or the LTTE. A cease-fire was declared in 2001 but hostilities renewed with the escalation of conflict in July 2006. Despite the mediatory efforts of Norway, the severe clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils are a continued feature of ethnic flashpoints in Sri Lanka. Thus all the efforts of conflict resolution seems to be in vain while remaining the conflict as a fundamental and integral part of contemporary world.
Meanwhile, it seemed thaw time as Pakistan and India resumed over flights, sporting ties and relaunched the much-touted Dosti bus service. Still, along with the outward appearance of stability lies the need to resolve various key issue like cross border terrorism that have caused the recent escalation of mutual distrust between the two traditional rivals. For its part, Pakistan has been forced to rethink the Kashmir issue and cross border militancy allegedly funded by local intelligence agencies. On the other hand, India has not shown any flexible attitude for resolving the Kashmir conflict and had made allegations against Pakistan after the Mumbai bomb blast of 11 July, 2006.
Then comes the U-led and calibrated ‘war on terror’. While major military operation in Iraq and Afghanistan are officially over, battles rage on in both countries with insurgents attempting to oust forces. The civil war is going on in Afghanistan, while in Iraq, movements to derail the US occupation continue with American troops and strongholds routinely coming under attack.
Due to all these violence, conflict and war, the issue of peace is one thing that have not been realized completely, and for the most part even partially, in any region suffering from instability. For imperialist powers, peace is not an objective anyway, especially when it involves corporate interests. Off course, war and conflict are far more profitable due to increase in arms production and sales.
Besides the underlying factors of all these conflicts the psychological and sociological study of human nature has shown that aggressive behavior is in the genetic of human beings. But one may overcome his or her conflictual and aggressive attitude if proper social learning can be done and the actors involving in local and international conflict should fulfill their responsibility with sincere efforts for peace.

Conclusion
By keeping in mind all these conflicts of today’s world it seems that conflict is an inevitable phenomenon for those who are not ready to give up their militaristic, extremist and inflexible attitude, and who always miscalculate the consequences of the conflicts.
Until and unless all the people of the world cannot overcome their differences it is hard to create peaceful and conducive environment for friendly relations. Force can only lead to more force; conflict can only lead to more conflict, not peace. The process of conflict resolution can only be strengthened through a proper mechanism for handling conflicts rather than given impetus to them.

Schellenberg, James A .(1996) , Conflict resolution: theory, research and practice.(New York)

* Student, B.A (HONS) 3RD YEAR, SECOND SEMESTER, 2006

All content (C) Department of International Relations, Karachi University

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