flict resolution. The Naga conflict predates Indian
independence and began as a movement for auton-
omy. Soon, however, it converted into a separatist
movement leading to increasing violence. In the
1980s the Nagas were fighting not just the Indian
state but also a fratricidal war between different
Naga groups. It was during this period of extreme
violence that women in Nagaland organized them-
selves into a secular group known as the Naga
Mothers Association (NMA). Most of its members
were Christians but they did not bring up religion
as an issue. They raised their voices against any vio-
lent acts and urged the Nagas to work together.
They were instrumental in reducing conflict among
Naga people and also bringing the Nagas and the
Indian state into a political dialogue. They were the
first South Asian women’s group to sit in a ceasefire
negotiation between the government of India and
the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland
(Isaac-Muivah faction). During the period of cease-
fire they have continued their pro-peace activism
and have made efforts to improve their relations
with people of neighboring Assam and Arunachal
Pradesh. One of the main reasons for the success of
NMA is that they have legitimized their role in con-
flict resolution through a non-partisan approach
and have been successful in making crucial alliances
with other civil society and human rights organiza-
tions. Although there is a plethora of women’s
groups in Northeast India, such as Meira Paibies
(Torch bearers) in Manipur, the Kuki Women’s
Federation, and the Mizo Widows’ Union, none of
them are as successful in making political interven-
tions as the NMA.
In 1984 the security forces in the Jaffna area
detained more than 500 young men who were sus-
pected of being terrorists. It was a time of growing
violence in Sri Lanka as the government tried to
suffocate the Tamil separatists led by the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the east and north of the
country. These unlawful detentions triggered a
women’s movement in Jaffna. The women organ-
ized themselves into a Mothers’ Front in 1984 and
marched with nearly 10,000 participants to protest
against the Government Agent. The mothers were
able to distinguish themselves as citizens of Sri
Lanka and as such different from the rank and file
of the liberation movement. The protest march
yielded partial and momentary results but effected
a permanent impact on the activities of the state,
which began to detain Jaffna youths with caution.
The Mothers’ Front in the north survived for two
years and then the women were forced to disperse.
There were similar experiments by women in the
south but none of these movements lasted for very
south asia 547long. This was because the conflicting sides such as
the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil sepa-
ratists largely opposed women’s interventions in
conflict resolution. South Asian experiences de-
monstrate that when both sides in a conflict try to
marginalize women very seldom are women able to
make any major interventions. Even in conflict res-
olution women find it extremely difficult at times to
transcend their group identities.
The Sindhi Mohajir conflict in Pakistan initially
gave women a political space but their own leaders
soon took it away from them. The Muttahida
Qaumi Movement (MQM) of the Urdu-speaking
immigrants from India, who were the voices of the
Mohajirs, inspired women to join the movement. In
February 1989, 7,500 women enlisted in the MQM
in a single day. The MQM was an urban middle-
class phenomenon and many of its women partici-
pants shunned the veil as they considered themselves
to be progressive. But the MQM women soon
began to be seen as partisan and militant and their
abilities to negotiate politically declined. Even the
Sindhiani Tehrik (Sindhi Women’s Movement)
could make no headway in conflict resolution. This
was when a radical women’s group known as
Women’s Action Forum (WAF) stepped in. WAF
contacted women from MQM and Sindhiani
Tehrik. They held themselves to be a platform for
peace and facilitated inter-community dialogues. It
was the WAF initiative that made some space for
inter-community understanding in Pakistan.
Women’s role in conflict management in South
Asia has been checkered. Some women’s groups
such as the NMA or the WAF have made long-term
interventions for conflict resolution and others,
such as the Mothers’ Front in Sri Lanka, have had
only immediate success. Most of these women’s
movements grew out of a necessity to provide alter-
natives to violence within their society. They are
thus always identified with their own communities.
They achieve greater success and more political
space when they are able to transform their identi-
ties from the local to the universal. Most often their
activism is rooted in their cultural roles as mothers,
wives, and sisters. There is however, a growing
recognition among women today that activism
based on these roles may be counter-productive. In
recent years women have moved away from such
identifications and act as women and compatriots
rather than as mothers and daughters. After the
Gujarat riots against Muslims in 2002 secular
women from both the Hindu and Muslim commu-
nities came together in an organization called
Women for Peace. Even in the conflicts between the
state and the Maoists in Nepal women’s peace