Saarc needs greater interactions in new phase

The Saarc is no longer a nascent organisation and it has acquired larger reputation by now in the international arena even though its progress over the twenty years might not be anything remarkable. Many feel that its progress has been rather sluggish, but this itself can be seen as a positive development given the fact that the forum had come up belying many skepticism and is continuing with modest achievements despite certain problems. In the meantime it is also gaining greater acceptance by various quarters. The United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) sometime ago finally accepted this regional forum as an Observer in the world body. The decision gives Saarc a distinct advantage for interaction with the UN and its system. Multilateral forums like Commonwealth, OIC and the NAM were accorded this status by the United Nations. No doubt, for the Saarc it has come little late. Evidently, the UN closely monitored the Saarc and finally reached the conclusion that it is sparing no effort to develop effective cooperative mechanism among seven nations in the most densely populated region of the world -- albeit critics' observation that its range of cooperation in concrete terms should have been more visible.

The Saarc representing 1.4 billion people is in the threshold of beginning its course in its third decade. It was launched in Dhaka in 1985 and it is through the coming summit in the Bangladesh capital next month the assiduously nurtured regional forum enters a new phase. The Saarc often comes in for criticism for the reason that it has not succeeded in delivering the expected results in twenty years. Then again there are cynics, who believe that the forum has not made any mark at all. However, an overwhelming majority seems to feel that there is no reason whatsoever for being euphoric about the Saarc but they are convinced that it is delivering -- although not in a big way. There is hardly any denying that SAARC is often crippled by manifold problems including political differences, but what is noteworthy is the fact that it's progressing surmounting the obstacles. It has maintained its existence and is also showing expanding activities.

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True, the Saarc has often been a victim of political problems that certainly exist in South Asia, congenitally known for a milieu. Postponements and calling off the summits are not new phenomenon. Still, the staging of the summit itself is something to cheer about. Differences have bedevilled the Saarc to some extent, but what is praiseworthy is that the setbacks have always been temporary and the forum reverted to original track. That is where the strength of the forum lies even though the deferment of the important events for the Saarc is not desirable.

It is important that the Saarc summit takes place regularly in time as stipulated in the charter of the organisation. The charter provides this clearly for the reason that a summit once in a year should not be difficult since members come from one region and their number is not large. Commonwealth leaders (CHOGM) meet once in two years, nonaligned and Islamic countries once in three years. All these groups have big number of members who come from different continents, whereas seven Saarc members are neighbours. Hence the decision for annual conference of the leaders was a rational one as this should also provide the members to have talks at highest level for overall interest of the region. Sadly, this vision did not work for the forum well as annual summit remains a distant dream even though it was one of the basic intentions of the Saarc.

Consequently, the forum suffered in the absence of meetings of their leaders at regular intervals. Arguably, the Saarc secretariat and other level meetings are useful, but consultations by the leaders are imperative for the development of the organisation, which is afflicted by manifold problems mainly stemming from political differences. After all, it is the summit that effectively helps clear the hindrances that scuttle the expected growth of the forum. Bangladesh has particular reason to be anxious about the Saarc as this country mooted the idea. When Bangladesh conceived the south Asian forum, the proposal was greeted with a large degree of skepticism in certain circles and major nations in the region even dragged their feet in endorsing the concept. But once it took off following assiduously built painstaking efforts, Saarc did not look back and the nascent forum is now eighteen years old, the slow progress notwithstanding. The summits should not be subjected to delay as failure to hold the event in time spawns mistrust and doubts about the effectiveness of the forum.

Last summit in Islamabad reviewed the progress of the Saarc made so far and has succeeded drawing several programmes on the hand. Despite slow achievements, there can hardly be any denial that seven countries have established cooperation in varied fields through the integrated programmes of actions (IPA) and the technical committees dealing with important areas have also performed reasonably well. But the inherent mistrust in the region and particularly between the two main players of the spectrum -- India and Pakistan -- seems to mar the expected development of the forum. The summits always leave a sobering effect on the political climate of the region. This is the Islamabad summit that produced a breakthrough in the Indo-Pak dialogue as the two nuclear-powered arch-rivals are now carrying out talks for improving their often battered ties.

Islamabad summit took up a series of programmes in the economic, social and other sectors and all these are commendable. It is imperative that the positive spirit is maintained through appropriate and timely follow up actions. For resources and technical and other assistance, the Saarc in the new phase should develop greater interactions with international organisations and agencies for effectively helping its programmes. It should also have links with other regional forums for experiences and collaborative relationship because this will simply by helpful for the forum. As the time for the next summit is drawing nearer, the Saarc may consider having greater interactions at international level in various forms in addition to its normal agenda awaiting for the 13th summit.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is Foreign Editor of BSS.