The South Asian Association for Regional Coopration (SAARC) was supposed to be a viable platform for the states and peoples of the South Asian region to work together in a spirit of friendship and trust. Twenty years after its establishment, many are now questioning its viability as an effective regional forum. Apparently, the body is continuing to exist in the same spirit, but it is true that it has failed to emerge as an effective organisation.
Political analysts say the SAARC remains unproductive over the years, although many other regional forums have shown tremendous progress in all fields. Its secretary general Arjun Bahadur Thapa, talking on the issue, did not agree that the regional body did not do anything. May be, he said it could not fulfil the level of expectations due to many reasons.
Mr. Thapa claimed that a lot has been done although there is a need to do much more in the SAARC in future with collective wisdom and efforts. He mentioned about some achievements of the regional forum. For example, the SAARC leaders were able to meet on a regular basis and managed to prevent conflicts in the region. As the leaders periodically meet and talk about socio-economic development, common interest and problems of the region, the forum appears to perform much better. Besides, a number of things have been done in many areas related to trade, poverty reduction, connectivity, employment and energy security, apart from introduction of SAARC visa scheme.
However, compared to the ASEAN and the European Union (EU), the success rate of the SAARC is very low. On this issue, Thapa said the regional body cannot be compared with them because of having a very brief history. In Europe, the member-states have surrendered their sovereignty to the EU. In South Asian region, the leaders felt that everything should be done on the basis of consensus. The SAARC forum, Thapa said, was doing something collectively in terms of connectivity, trade, employment and others.
However, only last week, the second meeting of the SAARC cabinet secretaries concluded in the capital giving a serious focus on coordinated efforts to alleviate poverty in South Asia. The meeting discussed a number of issues like coordinated efforts for poverty alleviation in the region, use of ICT (information and communication technology) for up-gradation of civic amenities, putting e-governance in place, PPP (public-private partnership) for infrastructure development.
Other issues that came up for discussion included enrolment of female students in primary and secondary schools, civil service reforms, improvement of economic governance, achieving MDGs (millennium development goals) in the regional context, corruption and women empowerment. The meeting focussed on administrative reforms, good governance, capacity building, improvement of services delivery and major activities of their respective countries and share best practices in these areas,
Any serious analysis of the SAARC should take into consideration the bitter partition that the Sub-continent witnessed and the accompanied mistrust and suspicion that made normal state-to-state relations a complicated affair. Nevertheless, the SAARC is providing a platform for the regional countries to meet and discuss issues confronting the region. The smaller countries of the region, being members of the forum, are playing a visible role by setting regional agenda in spite of 'big brother's presence.
The regional body has, to some extent, helped expand areas of cooperation that require collective regional effort, including certain non-traditional issues like terrorism, drug smuggling etc. Also, meeting of leaders on the sidelines of the SAARC summits have often helped in easing bilateral problems.
On the contrary, the ASEAN countries did not have contested ideologies, such as the one based on two-nation theory. The countries comprising ASEAN came together to defend themselves from the communist threat. Such external threat was absent in the case of SAARC. Rather, India was considered as a threat by some member countries. Thus, SAARC and ASEAN cannot otherwise be compared.
Much before the inception of SAARC, Indo-Pakistan ties were strained. This was bound to reflect in any attempt to build on the SAARC foundation. Where India was fearful that SAARC's strength might mean less regional influence for itself, Pakistan feared that the block would be dominated by India. At the same time, while the security scenario in the region has been incredibly unstable, the SAARC was crippled by its own structural shortcomings. This has prevented successful formulation and implementation of any resolution.
Countless agreements have been signed, but a very few could be implemented. Lack of implementation of agreements has thrown the body into a stalemate and thwarted its progress up to the potential. If some momentum can be generated on the national security front, particularly aiming at bringing India and Pakistan closer, the SAARC body may be able to overcome some of its structural weaknesses. It could potentially foster relations in the region, and stand as a powerful force at par with other regional bodies.
However, one school of thought argues that the biggest hindrance lies in a single SAARC charter, which prevents the member nations from discussing issues of bilateral concerns, for example the Indo-Pak conflicts. Also, as it stands, any SAARC decision has to be made unanimously, which is near-impossible. No wonder, little or no discussion on contentious regional issues could not take place, rendering SAARC largely unproductive. Moreover, even if a decision is made, it is not binding to the member nations.
Regional tensions mean that there is little hope for the dreams of open borders, economic union and a single currency in South Asian region. It seems there is still a long way to go. Given such a context, all nations should work together for bringing dynamism in SAARC activities.
szkhan@dhaka.net
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