EDITORIAL 

Take SAARC Forward

THE thirteenth summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) finally took place after long delay and postponements, at Dhaka.  The last postponement followed the abrogation of democracy in Nepal by the King, and India alongwith some other countries correctly felt that no legitimacy must be provided to the Nepal King for his actions.  However, having finally met, the Summit could not substantially move forward in establishing the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).  Instead of working for a tangible realisation of this goal, which holds tremendous promise for the region, India has gone about implementing bilateral free trade agreements with countries such as Sri Lanka. India and Pakistan must pursue their bilateral agenda separately and not allow that to impede the establishment of the SAFTA.

The issue of poverty alleviation in the region, an issue that has been on the SAARC’s agenda since its inception, has also not been taken forward in any meaningful way. The Dhaka declaration has gone on to institute a fund and a mechanism to work collectively towards a decade dedicated to the implementation of these plans.

Though the Summit discussed the issue of terrorism, no substantive measures or proposals have been initiated.  Mere declaration of intent to oppose terrorism in the region does not meaningfully help resolve the problem.  Such a declaration of  intent, in fact, covers up the lack of political will to tackle terrorism and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.  India has repeatedly, in the past, drawn the attention of both Pakistan and Bangladesh concerning base camps on their territories used by terrorist groups operating in India.  This must be seriously tackled in the future. 

Now that prime minister Manmohan Singh takes over the leadership of the SAARC, the responsibility devolves on India to take forward the Dhaka declaration and tackle the twin challenges confronting the region – poverty alleviation and terrorism. 

SAARC membership has been expanded by admitting Afghanistan into its fold.  This is the first expansion of the original seven-member SAARC. The Summit has also agreed in principle to create a new category of observers considering that both China and Japan are seeking to engage SAARC for economic cooperation. Afghanistan has to meet many challenges in the process of its political consolidation following decades of US-imperialist intervention, war and conflict. Yet, Afghanistan integrates both economically and culturally with South Asia and, hence, it can only be hoped that it consolidates itself into an independent sovereign country.

It is now India’s responsibility to take the SAARC forward as a mechanism that can result in providing both relief and development to the vast majority of the populations in these countries.