War between Palestine and Israel as well as a conflict in Kashmir (the northernmost geographical region of South Asia) is assumed as an interfaith conflict. In fact, the conflict is not dealing with religion, but it is due to a geo-political factor.
In a session of the 5th Mahathir Global Peace School (MGPD) on Friday (2/12) at A.R. Fachruddin A, floor 5, President of International Movement for a Just World (JUST International) Dr. Chandra Muzaffar stated that it is wrong to have an assumption about interfaith war.
“A lot of Western media broadcast that war and conflicts are inter-religious conflicts. All of us should find out the background of the conflicts since, essentially, all conflicts are regarding land, occupation, and self-determination,” Candra conveyed.
A conflict in Kashmir is the longest conflict in the world since 1947. According Dr. Chandra, many people presume that the conflict has been occurring among Hindus and Muslims, but historically it is not as what they have been rumored.
“In religious perspective, the Kashmir conflict is because Hindus consider a cow as a sacred animal while Muslims slaughter a cow. However, the conflict began since Pakistani Muslims and urged Kashmir to be a part of Pakistan, whereas people of south Kashmir who were Hindus and Indian ethnics wished Kashmir to be the part of India,” Dr. Chandra explained.
He concluded that religions have never become the main reason sparking conflicts. A conflict between Palestine and Israel involves Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
“They need freedom, and they have been conflicting due to land and power. The desire to dominate land is the foremost factor of the conflict,” Dr. Chandra asserted.
Each religion teaches the believers how to judge themselves before others. “No religion teaches greed. If human beings believe that a religion teaches violence and domination of power, they must understand their own religion. Indeed, every religion guides the believers to interact well with one another,” Dr. Chandra emphasized.
