Another Summit

The 11th SAARC summit was postponed after General Pervez Musharraf overthrew the democratically elected government in Pakistan. The summit was due to be held in Kathmandu in 1998. Unfortunately, India refused to share the platform with Pakistan, citing the military coup in that country. India isolated Pakistan at every international forum on account of the military coup. Pakistan was even suspended from membership of the Commonwealth, despite the general’s pledge to restore democracy in his country by 2002. However, India subsequently appeared to be the first country in the sub-continent to recognise the military regime in Pakistan by inviting General Musharraf, who had by then become President, to India. The two leaders - Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President Musharraf — held their Agra Summit to defuse bilateral tensions. Now both countries - India and Pakistan — have agreed to the holding of the 11th SAARC summit in early January. The way the SAARC agenda was hijacked citing bilateral disputes shows that the concept of a regional trading block initiated by the leaders of this region may never materialize. The SAARC charter also states that a SAARC member country cannot raise bilateral disputes at a SAARC summit. This is the main reason that the progress of SAARC as a regional block has been hampered.

The seven SAARC member-countries in 1987 signed a convention on terrorism that has turned out ineffective in containing the proliferating terrorist activity in the region. In fact such activity has only doubled because of largely ineffective implementation of the law and poor interaction among SAARC member countries. Had SAARC allowed member countries to discuss bilateral disputes at SAARC summits, the region would have been witness to less terrorist activity. SAARC member countries have refused to share not only a common platform but also information on terrorist activity. The shortcomings that have appeared while dealing with terrorism should not be overlooked. Every SAARC member country has directly or indirectly been affected by terrorism activity. The other area that has been affected as a result of a bilateral dispute is the proposed free trade under SAPTA. SAARC member countries have also yet to recognize the problem of girl trafficking and the state of children’s rights in the region. The progress among SAARC member countries in cultural, economic and political relations has been very slow. SAARC’s failings are many and these will take a long time sorting out. Be that as it may, SAARC has become a common platform for South Asian nations and the political leaders should not overlook its importance citing political interests and bilateral disputes. It is to be hoped that the much delayed summit will at last take place, and that when it does the delegates will not be sent back home empty handed.