The balance of Saarc power

Drawing global examples from the past 10 to 15 years, it is now obvious that Associations and Unions such as Nafta, EU, Asean and most definitely Saarc do very little to no good for nations that don't possess the economic, political and/or military power to bully potential underlings. Bangladesh is no exception in falling victim to this. At the time, Bangladesh was thinking of Saarc as being mutually beneficial to all the nations. We obviously were extremely naive in thinking that our more powerful neighbour would be involved in a way that benefited us and the other nations as well as themselves (all my South Asian friends will hopefully not take offense at my statements as we surely know that almost invariably it is the governments that foster bad relationships in the South Asian regions, and not the people). Bangladesh has a lot of growing up to do from our current state in Saarc with the aim to not bite off more than it can chew.

The latest Saarc conference postponement due to India's sudden refusal to attend sends a message that there is no Saarc without India. Let's face it; nobody would care if Bhutan, or any other of the five nations didn't attend. The funniest thing would be if, this time, the Bangladesh delegation for some reason said it would not attend even though they were hosting the conference. I wouldn't be surprised if the event would still go on without them. Some constitutional jargon would be pulled out to maintain, "the show must go on."

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In all seriousness, I leave you fellow Bangladeshis and other South Asians with a thought to ponder upon. In order to bring meaning to and progress through Saarc, there should be a balance of power amongst nations. For example, the six nations committed to attend should have shown leadership and absolutely gone ahead with the conference in Dhaka this year. In addition, they should have had the wisdom and good sense to invite China to be a part of the conference. China, which stands as one of the most powerful nations in the world today, has been keenly interested in becoming a Saarc member for a few years now. This move would have sent a message to all that we mean business.

Fellow Saarc nationals, let us empower ourselves with a common a goal to get out of this stalemate now.