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Kathmandu Thursday January 17, 2002 Magh 04, 2058.
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SAARC
and regional security
By MOHAN LOHANI
The eleventh SAARC
summit that was successfully hosted by Nepal has not only brought this country a sense of
relief but has also boosted its international image. Needless to point out, the gap
between the Kathmandu summit and the tenth summit that was held in Colombo in July 1998
was disappointingly long, despite the Charter provision that the summit should be annually
hosted by a member state on a rotation basis. There were misgivings after the December 13
terrorist attack on the Indian parliament that the eleventh summit might be further
delayed once again. This was not the case to the satisfaction of all concerned, and host
country Nepal received Kudos for its home
work and preparations in terms of logistics, security, substantive agenda and, above all,
traditional hospitality for which this country is noted.
It is too early to
assess that the Kathmandu summit has achieved and what it has failed to achieve. The
summit’s 54-point declaration is a consensus document that reflects views and
measures of common concern to the region. A few hours after the summit closed by adopting
and issuing a declaration, this writer was asked by Andrew Whitehead of BBC World Service
to evaluate the outcome of the summit. I described the summit as a success, despite
growing tensions between the Association’s two major member states, India and
Pakistan. Whiterhead wondered whether South Asia could transform itself into a free trade
area, given the degree of continued hostility that characterised the Indo-Pak relations. I
drew Whitehead’s attention to paragraph seven of the declaration in which the South
Asian leaders, who have recognised the importance of achieving a free trade area and
reaffirmed that the treaty regime for creating a free trade area must incorporate binding
timeframes, have directed the Council of Ministers to finalize the text of the Draft
Treaty framework by the end of this year. I reminded the BBC correspondent that the summit
declaration is an expression of political commitment and cannot be brushed aside as a
scrap of paper. There is no reason to doubt that the SAFTA treaty will not be finalized by
the end of this year.
Having said this, it
must be admitted that the effective implementation of the declaration depends on the
willingness of all member states to work together and cooperate meaningfully in the true
SAARC spirit of partnership, for the realization of goals and objectives that gave birth
to the regional organisation sixteen years ago. SAARC, since its inception, has sought to
exclude bilateral disputes and contentious issues from its formal deliberations. There is
ongoing debate over whether regional cooperation can move forward at an accelerated pace
on a sustained and predictable basis by shutting our eyes for long to political conflict,
differences and bilateral disputes. While President Musharraf of Pakistan in his address
to the eleventh summit called for discussion on bilateral issues at SAARC’s formal
meetings, PM Vajpayee of India spoke against this position as it would violate the SAARC
Charter and go against its spirit. The Indian Prime Minister, however, emphasized the need
for further expanding the areas of economic cooperation and their effective
implementation. Since poverty is a common formidable foe of the region, India has offered
to host the first meeting of the reconstituted South Asian Commission on Poverty
Alleviation. Poverty alleviation is, thus, in the forefront at the national and regional
level as well.
Because of divergent
security perceptions of member states in the region, regional security has never dominated
the SAARC agenda as a subject of common concern. As expected, there is a passing reference
to regional security in the Kathmandu declaration. Paragraph 31 under the sub-heading
"International Political and Economic Environment" reiterates the view of the
Heads of State or Government in a single sentence, "stability, peace and security in
South Asia should be promoted together with efforts to improve the global security
environment." One can understand the sensitive dimension of the regional security
environment, but that the security environment in South Asia remains volatile and
precarious is an accepted reality. While the scene of PM Vajpayee and President Musharraf
shaking hands a couple of times during summit deliberations in Kathmandu pleased many
including some world leaders, even the common people in South Asia and elsewhere were
painfully aware, and remain so, of the massive military buildup on the Indo-Pak border.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, it many be recalled, was already in Bangladesh before
the summit opened in Kathmandu on the first leg of his South Asian visit, particularly to
India and Pakistan, with a view to urging the leaders of these countries to avoid war and
defuse tensions through political dialogue. President Bush was equally concerned and
remained almost in constant touch on hot line with the Indian and Pakistani leaders in his
efforts to de-escalate the conflict between the two South Asian adversaries which have
joined the global coalition against terrorism after the September 11 terrorist attacks in
the United States.
The US needs both India
and Pakistan to successfully accomplish its operation against the prime terrorist suspect
Osama bin Laden and his dreadful Al Qaida network. In pursuit of the American initiative
to defuse tensions in South Asia, including the withdrawal of the troops from both sides
of the Indo-Pak border, US Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to visit both
India and Pakistan this week. Powell’s two-day visit to Nepal is now officially
confirmed, and a great deal of significance is being attached to this high-level visit
which is taking place in Nepal after 30 years. Nepal, apart from the fact that it has
successfully hosted the 11th SAARC Summit, and is currently chairperson of the regional
organisation, has strongly condemned the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US. During
Powell’s visit, the Bush administration is expected to sympathetically consider
Nepalese concerns with respect to trade, particularly quota free access for our products
to the American market, foreign private investment in employment generating industries,
including power generation and development aid. The US knows that Nepal has had to divert
a big chunk of its development budget for security purpose.
Some significant steps
have been taken to ease rising Indo-Pak tensions as evidenced by President
Musharraf’s address to the nation last Saturday. The Pakistani President has
categorically stated his resolve to ban five Islamic militant organisations including
Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad and other extremists engaged in fomenting religious
and communal terror and violence. India has cautiously welcomed the announcement as an
important step and urged Pakistan to follow its statement with concrete action. According
to media reports, Pakistan has already arrested hundreds of militants and raided their
homes and offices. While cross-border terrorism is India’s overriding concern,
Pakistan is anxious to assure the Kashmiri militants that the right of the people of
Kashmir to self-determination has not been compromised or shelved on the back-burner. The
lingering dispute over Kashmir certainly needs to be resolved through peaceful
negotiations. Since both India and Pakistan are countries with nuclear capabilities, it is
all the more necessary for bilateral disputes to be thrashed out peacefully so that SAARC
becomes a vibrant, dynamic and effective organization capable of realizing its common
objectives, fulfilling its agreed commitments and guiding South Asia towards transforming
itself as a region of peace, progress, prosperity and stability.
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