SAARC Turned Inert

Today, as we observe the 40th SAARC Charter Day, it becomes imperative to reflect on its crucial role in fostering peace, stability, cooperation, understanding and economic progress in the region. In 1985, when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established, it set the goal of attaining common prosperity for its people, who were plagued by poverty, inequality, diseases, natural disasters, and terrorism. It primarily seeks to unlock the potential that the region possesses in the fields of trade, technology, education, scientific innovation, art, culture, and literature. Building political trust, strengthening cooperation with other developing countries and pursuing matters of common interest in international forums constitute its other cardinal objectives. 

For decades, the SAARC served as a viable platform for its eight members – Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan – to work together and integrate the region characterised by diverse civilisations, cultures, ethnicities, languages, and religions. Several agreements, conventions, funds, institutions and mechanisms have been created to promote the welfare of its people. They include the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA), the Suppression of Terrorism, the SAARC Development Fund, the SAARC Disaster Management Centre and the SAARC Agriculture Centre.  It has several layers of structures that bring together dignitaries – from the heads of state and ministers to top bureaucrats. The summit meetings of the heads of state or governments have fostered greater understanding, collaboration and fraternity at the political and diplomatic levels. 

However, the SAARC has been dysfunctional for the last 11 years, thanks to bilateral misunderstanding and tension between the two nuclear powers - India and Pakistan. Kathmandu hosted its 18th Summit in 2014, but its 19th Summit, scheduled for November 2016 in Islamabad, was cancelled due to the renewed tension between India and Pakistan. In the capacity of current Chair, Nepal tried to organise ministerial meetings and discussed the agenda with the regional leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2023 and 2024, but these efforts came a cropper. Its Charter has the provision of taking a unanimous decision, but the contested issues prevent the SAARC leaders from taking vital decisions and implementing them. 

The persistent gap between the commitments and their translation into action has precluded the regional body from making illustrious gains. SAARC embodies its people's aspirations for development, dignity and unity, but it has failed to meet their expectations. It is also surmised that India, the largest country in terms of population, geography and economy in the region, has given lesser priority to the SAARC due to its continued impasse with Pakistan. Instead, it has focused on strengthening the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Scientific, Technical and Economic Cooperation). However, the BIMSTEC is not an alternative to SAARC, which still houses the world's largest number of poor people. 

The SAARC has many effective networks and instruments spread across eight member nations. Many of them are operating to their satisfaction. Hundreds of students from the region are studying on scholarships at South Asian University in New Delhi, India.  Foundation of the SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL), an apex body of SAARC created to promote art, culture and literature, has been conducting FOSWAL literature festivals annually. It has kept alive the cultural connectivity and the spirit of the people-to-people bond in the region. The SAARC bears the huge prospect of transforming the lives of its people.  Its leaders must rise to the occasion to revive the SAARC and resolve numerous social, economic and health problems through mutual trust and practical cooperation.