NATIONAL 1 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Missed Opportunities

Prominent citizens say cooperation is the only way forward to avoid further conflict in the region

By BHAGIRATH YOGI in New Delhi

Has the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) been consigned to the history books? Not exactly, say prominent citizens and scholars in the region and abroad.

Set up in 1985, the seven-member club - which groups Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - has found itself in hard times more than once. The latest tangle is the indefinite postponement of the 11th SAARC summit. That summit, scheduled to take place in Kathmandu in November 1999, was postponed at the request of India, citing political developments in Pakistan (read: military takeover).

"Though the SAARC summit could not take place other SAARC activities are going on," said Jaswant Singh, Foreign Minister of India, addressing the 50th congress of International Press Institute (IPI) in New Delhi early this week. "We have still to work toward fully realizing the economic concept of SAARC," he said.

Analysts say cool and often hostile relations between India and Pakistan are mainly responsible for the less-than-satisfactory performance of the regional body. The region is yet to overcome the shocks of the nuclear tests conducted in 1998 by India and later by Pakistan, both in the strategic sense as well as politically at the regional and international level.

"The tests were necessary given India's security needs and changing world scenario," said J. N. Dixit, former foreign secretary of India, addressing a session on "Conflict and tensions in South Asia" at the IPI Congress. He identified six elements responsible for creating conflict in the region: problems of collective national identities, problems of development, problems of democracy, problems of nuclearization, internal contradictions of civil society, and asymmetry between India and its neighbors. "As Indian borders are contiguous to all six nations in the region, it has a special responsibility," said Dixit. "But it should not result in self-destruction for India."

Keeping aside the sensitivities of India, Pakistan and other countries in the region, for that matter, growing militarization and conflict in this part of the world can't be sustained for long, say experts. Some even see room for optimism.

"By and large this region has settled down in a cooperative and non-conflict mode," said former Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral. "The future of both India and Pakistan lies in cooperation."

Scholars taking part in the discussions talked about what they described as "missed opportunities" for reducing tension in the region, which houses nearly one-fifth of the world's population. "The opportunities missed in South Asia have been enormous," said Sharin Tahir Kheli, a US-based scholar. "The absence of normal relations in this part of the world is almost legendary."

She referred to non-fulfilment of potentials created by Indian Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee's visit to Lahore, popularly known as the "bus diplomacy.î

Some even argued that it paid to some sections of the people in the region to keep tensions and conflicts high. "The cold era may have ended in other parts of the world but it is still going on in this region," said I.A. Rehman, director of Pakistan Human Rights Commission. "Only a people's movement can unshackle our leaders from the utopia of non-cooperation."

As people within the region continue to interact at different levels, there is growing pressure on the governments to shed their differences and come closer to chart out strategies to fight against such common enemies as illiteracy, poverty and unemployment.

The revival of a forum like SAARC would be an excellent opportunity for his. Unfortunately, nobody is in a situation to predict when the stalled summit might take place.