Objectives

Introduction
History
SAARC Summits
Problems Besetting the Organisation
Prospects for SAARC
Let Us Sum Up
Some Useful Books
Aqswers to Check Your Progress Exercises

24.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit we will study the SAARC, the first concrete expression of regional
cooperation in South Asia. After going through this unit, you should be able to:
Trace the genesis ofAsian regionalism leading to the formation of SAARC;
e Identify the objectives of SAARC;
Give a brief resume of the SAARC Summits;
Identify the problems besetting SAARC, and
Analyse the prospects of the organisation.

24.1 INTRODUCTION
In the history of regionalism, {he South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) is a unique experiment. In terms of national profiles or superpower
connections (till the end ofthe Cold War), it has few parallels in the world. Comprised
of seven unequal states in terms of size, population, political system and development
status -Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka-
on one extreme it has India, the second most populous country in the world (after
China), and on the other, the Maldives, with a population of barely 200,000. Similarly,
on one side it has such nuclear powers with large armed forces as India and Pakistan
and on the other, small states like Bhutan and the Maldives, the combined military
strength of which would not exceed the police force of New Delhi or Karachi. The
position of Indonesia in ASEAN (Association for South h t ~ s i a n ~ a t i o nors that
) of
Saudi Arabia in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) can provide only a limited comparison
in this regard. With llegard to super power connections also, they were, during the
Cold War, asymmetrical. India, although a non-Soviet bloc nation, had a record of
three and a half decades of friendship and trust with the Kremlin. This contrasted ,

*,glaringlywith Pakistan, which was closely aligned to the US global strategy.

Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU The realm in which the SAARC countries have something really in common is their
state of underdevelopment. All are developing nations, and four of them (Bangladesh,
-. - - . .. --- - - . - - -. - - - . - -
 developed' countries. Understandably, the rationale behind the formation of SAARC SAARC

!
was the economic development of the region.

South Asia is a fairly well-defined geographical unit. In terms of historical experience

also it has uniformity. Yet, strangely enough, SAARC is the first experiment of its kind
in the region. It came into being in December 1985 at the first-ever South Asian
summit held in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh.

HISTORY - - -

Earlier efforts at regionalism in Asia in general and South Asia in particular were both
un-pragmatic and far fetched. Being too diffused in both membership and scope they
did not have any lasting significance. For example, the seven conferences were
convened between 1947 and 1955:the Asian Relations Conference, New Delhi, March
1947;Conference on Indonesia, New Delhi, January 1949; Baguio Conference, Baguio,
I

r
Phillippines,May 1950;Colombo Plan, formally launched on 1 July 1950,after a decision
at the meeting of the Ministers of Independent British Commonwealth countries in
Sydney and London in 1950; Colombo Powers Conference, Colombo, April 1954;
Afro-Asian Conference, Bandung, Indonesia,April 1955;and Simla Conference, Simla,
May 1955.

Convened against the background of recent decolonization movements, the meetings

were prompted either by an anti-colonial ethos or by prodding ofex-colonial masters
as reflected in the Colombo plan. They included countries fiom several world regions.

Tilt towards Western Bloc

One notable characteristic ofthe first generation experiment in Asian regionalism was
South Asia's unanimous tilt towards the Western bloc, notwithstanding its anti-colonial
and anti-imperialist rhetoric. From the mid 1950s onward, however, as Pakistan became
increasingly entrenched in the US strategic network, the division between India and
Pakistan became wider and deeper. During the same period, the growing Sino-Soviet
conflict added another complicated dimension. As a result, by the time India and
Pakistan fought their third war in 1971 (the earlier ones were in 1947and 1965)on the
issues of liberation of Bangladesh the lines were clearly drawn. Against this background,
any call for regional cooperation was a cry in the wilderness.

Revival of the ldea of Cooperative Arrangement

The idea was revived towards the end of the 1970s. It was Ziaur Rahman, the then
President of Bangladesh, who first suggested that the seven states of South Asia work
out a cooperative arrangement to amelioratethe stark economic problems of the region.
Although the proposal did not evoke much enthusiasm in the beginning, following the
change in the leaderships in the countries the proposal caught the [Link] of the
people in power. It was a time when the political leadership in South Asia was passing
into the hands of a new set of rulers. In India, Indira t?.:idhi's Congress Party was
replaced by the Janata Party led by Morarji Desai; in P a k ~ ~iulfiqar
~ a n Ali Bhutto was
replaced by a military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, and in Sri Lanka Srimavo Bandaranaike was
replaced by Junius Jayewardene. In Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman had consolidated his
position and there was no immediate threat fiom pro-Mujib forces. All these leaders
had a pro-US image and unlike their predecessors, tended to build regional relations on
new premises.

Effective Steps Towards SAARC

Ironically, however, the first effective step towards building SAARC was taken at a
time when the political landscape of South Asia had returned nearly to its earlier state. Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
Indira Gandhi had staged a dramatic come-back in India in 1980,which coincided with
 Regional Co-operation the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979and the return of the US-Pakistan 'special
relationship'. Indira Gandhi's virtual endorsement of the Soviet move sharpened the
strategic cleavage between India and Pakistan. While all this was happening, in May
1980, Ziaur Rahman sent formal letters to the six South Asian leaders urging serious
thought for the creation of regional cooperation body. Interestingly, the appeal received
a positive, though lukewarm, response.

Without directly referring to the political questions and without touching upon sensitive
regional issues, the leaders thought it worthwhile to explore areas of mutual economic
cooperation. It was a time when North-South dialogue had practically failed and the
slogan of economic cooperation among developing countries (ECDC) under South-
South Cooperation had started gaining high grounds. The global recession was
increasinglycripplingthe world economy. Hardest hit was the oil-importingdeveloping
world to which South Asia belonged. By the mid-70s real growth rates had touched a
low of almost two per cent. The 'second oil shock' of 1979-80 worsened the situation.
In 1980, the balance oftrade record of all South Asian countries remained very critical.
Against this background the advisabilityof regional cooperation in particular, and South-
South Cooperation in general, took high priority on the developmental agenda. The
creation of SAARC was only a matter of time.

Several meetings took place at the secretarial level to identify areas of cooperation.
The highlight ofthese meetings was that all ofthem decided not to discuss any 'bilateral
or contentious' issues in their regional meetings and whatever decisions they take
would be on the basis of consensus. Interestingly, the first point was made on India's
insistence and the second, on both India's and Pakistan's, the other countries having
no particular reason to worry about them. These two conditions continue to guide the
basic functioning of SAARC. On the contrary, they would have preferred the inclusion
of bilateral issues whic/h could have given them confidence to deal with India--the
colossus and often referred to as the 'Big Brother'. In a way, therefore, it was a
major diplomatic gain for India.

Launching of SAARC

In August 1983, the ongoing process was given a political push. At the first Foreign
Ministers' Conference in New Delhi, the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC)
Declaration was adopted. Following this the organisational structure of SAARC was
.finalid.

Thereafter, the first summit meeting took place in Dhaka in December 1985 and
SAARC was formally launched. The leaders decided in favour of aCouncil of Ministers
and a Secretariat, certifying their enduring commitmentto the organization. In February
1987, the SAARC Secretariat came into being with a secretary general and four
directors. Later, the SAARC Council of Ministers was formed consisting of the
foreign ministers of respective member states.

Organisational Structure

Following the New Delhi meeting of foreign ministers in 1983 the organizational
structure of the SAARC assumed a clear form and shape. It developed as a four-tier
structure. At the lowest level were the Technical Committees of experts and officials
formulating programmes of action and organizing seminars and workshops. Next
was the Standing Committee of Foreign Secretaries to review and coordinate the
recommendations of the Technical Committees, which was to meet at least once a
year. Above this was the Foreign Ministers' Conference, also to be held which was to
meet at least once a year to grant political approval to the recommendations of the
Standing Committee. At the apex was the Summit Meeting to be held annually to give
political significance to SAARC.
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
 Check Your Progress 1 SAARC

Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answers with that given at the end of this unit.

1) Identify at least three factors that contributed to the formation of SAARC

I
2) The four-tiers of SAARCYsorganisational structure are:
t

24.3 SAARC SUMMITS

So far, twelve Summits have taken place-Dhaka (1985), Bangalore (1986),
Kathmandu (l987), Islamabad (1988), Male (1990), Colombo (l991), Dhaka (1993),
New Delhi (1995), Male (1997), Colombo (1998), Kathmandu (2002) and Islamabad
(2004). However, in the past several summits have been postponed or not held at all
because of domestic and bilateral problems of member countries.
The SAARC has a fairly impressive record of meetings, seminars, studies and reports
that it has sponsored. The Calendar of Activities released by the SAARC Secretariat
from time to time, enumerates a large number of activities pertaining to such diverse
developmental fields as agriculture,animal husbandry, horticulture, health and sanitation,
forestry, population, meteordlogy, postal services, drug trafficking And abuse, integrated
rural development,transfer of technology, sports, transport, telecommunication, women's
development, trade and commerce, and otheis.
SAARC7sactivities are not confined to developmental issues only. Even such an
issue as terrorism, which has been hanging fire in Indo-Pak relations for several years
and has serious political overtones, had earlier received attention. Despite deep-rooted
divisions amongthe SAARC countriesover this question, they could adopt a convention
against terrorism. Its highlight was the identification of offences, which 'shall be
regarded as terroristic and for the purpose of extradition shall not be regarded as a
political offence or as an offence inspired by political motives.' The convention provides
the necessary follow-up through the signing of bilateral extradition treaties. This
convention has not been implemented because Bangladesh and Pakistan have not
ratified the same as they do not have the enabling domestic legislations against the
terrorists. However, a new dimension was given to this Convention in the Islamabad
Summit of 2004.
The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka in December 1985. At this'meeting,
SAARCwas formally launched. This Summit was particularly important in two respects.
In the first place, there was the use of expressions 'Non-use of Force' and 'Peaceful
Settlement of All Disputes' (Preamble and Article 11). It may be noted that similar
expressions were used in the original Working Paper (1980) prepared by Bangladesh,
but in the first Meeting of Foreign Secretaries (April 1981) they were dropped on
account of Pakistan's reservations. Pakistan's no-war pact proposal to India came
later in September 1981. The use of these expressions in the SAARC document,
therefore, made the no-war proposal virtually redundant. Secondly,the summit decided
in favour of a Council of Ministers and a Secretariat thereby giving permanence to Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
SAARC.
 Regional Co-operation At the second SAARC summit held in Bangalore in November 1986, the leaders
forged a regional convention on suppression of terrorism, agreed to set up a regional
food security reserve and decided to commission a study on the causes and
consequences of natural disasters and the preservation of the environment. In response
to the Afghan application for membership, the summit directed the Standing Committee
to draw up the criteria for membership. (SAARC charter is silent on the admission of
new members).

The third SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu in November 1987. In the
summit, the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism was signed,
which came into force on 22 August 1988.

The fourth SAARC summit was held in Islamabad in 1988. At this summit, an
integrated development plan called 'SAARC 2000--a basic needs perspective' was
drawn. The plan envisaged a regional perspective programme with a specific target
in core areas like food, clothing, shelter, education, primary health care, population
planning and environmental protection, to be met by the year 2000.

The fifth SAARC summit was held in Male in November 1990. At this summit, the
leaders called for the welfare ofthe disabled and the girl child, convention on narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances to deal effectively with the menace of drug abuse
and suppression of illicit traffic in the region, enlargement of visa-free travel facility
beyond the existing categories of members of Parliament and Supreme Court Judges
to include the heads of national academic institutions, their spouses and dependent
children, and, most importantly, the extension of the core areas of economiccooperation.
It was decided that by the end of February 1991 the regional study dealing with the
contentious issue of trade, manufactures and services should be completed. This was
particularly important because evetlyone agreed that to meet the challenges posed to
the global economy by the collapse ofthe socialist economies, new pattern of production,
consumption and trade would have to be conceived, and that sooner it was realized
the better it was for South Asia.

The Summit sixth SAARC summit at Colombo was originally scheduled to be held in
November 1991. But following the last moment decision of the Bhutanese King not
to participate in the summit because of his pressing domestic problems, the meeting
had to be postponed. This was unavoidable because both India and Nepal insisted
that since the King ofBhutan was not participating, they too would not. They strongly
felt that in the absence of any one member of the summit, the meeting, even if held,
would amount to going against the collective spirit of SAARC.

The summit was later held on 2 1 December 1991. Most ofthe issues in the Colombo
declaration that was adopted at the summit were part of SAARC's continuing agenda
over the previous years. The need to curb terrorist activities, the Maldivian initiative
to seek international consensus on reinforcing the security of small states, the call to
take effective steps to combat narco-terrorism in South Asia, the plea to articulate a
collective stand on global and regional environmental issues fall in this category. The
summit leaders also agreed that the inter-governmentalgroup, already set up to study
the prospects for regional cooperation in the areas of trade, manufactures and the
services, should also examine the Sri Lankan groposal for the establishment of a
SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) by 1997.

But the most significant of all the decisions taken at the Colombo Summit was the
agreement that a special session of the SAARC Foreign Secretaries should be held in
Colombo in 1992to study the ways and-meansto streamline the working norms of the
organization. This study could cover a wide spectrum of proposals, including those
designed to seek changes in the SAARC charter. Even the issue of establishing
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU suitable 'external linkages'with other regional organizations such as ASEAN and EU
could also be considered.
 The seventh SAARC summit was held at Dhaka in April 1993. In this summit, the SAARC
SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) was signed. The agreement
was supposed to provide the member countries with the basic legal framework for
step by step trade liberalization amongst them through tariff, para tariff, non-tariff and
direct trade deals.
At the eighth SAARC summit held in New Delhi in 1995, the SAPTA was formally
launched.
At the ninth SAARC summit at Male held in 1997, the SAARC Group of Eminent
Persons was established. The group contemplated the creation of SAARC Economic
Vision through creating a SAARC common market and effecting macro-economic
policy coordination.

Encouraged by the progress made by SAPTA negotiations, at the tenth SAARC Summit
meeting in Colombo in 1998, the SAARC leaders decided to set up a Committee of
Experts to draft a treaty on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The treaty was
expected to lay down legally binding schedulesfor freeing trade among SAARC countries
and to provide a predictable and transparent time path for achieving a free trade area
in the region.
The eleventh SAARC Summit at Kathmandu was originally scheduled for November
1999 but had to be postponed because ofthe military coup in Pakistan on 12 October
I 1999. Eventually, the summit was held in January2002. The highlight of the summit
was the signing of a convention to prevent illegal trafficking of girl children and women
/ for immoral purposes across the region. The delay in holding the summit, however, did
1 not mean that SAARC remained inactive. The sixth meeting of the Governing Board
of the South Asian Development Fund (SADF) was held in Maldives on 22-23 May
2000 in which the activities of the Fund were reviewed and proposals for placing the
Fund on a professional footing discussed. SAARC consortium examined proposals
for cooperation in the SAARC region to promote the use of open and distance learning
at all levels of education. The growing people-to-people contact of all kinds was a
notable development during the year. The third meeting of the SAARC Network of
Researchers on Global, Financial and Economic issues was held at the SAARC
Secretariat on 31 October 2000. The 19th meeting of the SAARC Audio Visual
Exchange Comm~tteewas held in Dhaka from 19-20 December 2000.
In November 2000, a special SAARC Senior Officials' Meeting was held in Colomba.
The meeting finalized the calendar for holding the meetings of technical committee,
I expert-level meetings of the South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA)
and the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The SAARC Technical Committees
are the primary mechanism for the implementation ofthe SAARC integrated programme
of action (SIPA). 'A regional meeting on FinancingRenewable Energy for sustainable
Development and Alleviation of Rural Poverty in South Asia' was held in Colombo
from 12-14 June 2000, jointly with the World Energy Council. A South Asian Business
Leaders summit was held in Bangalore from in August 2000 as a~ointinitiative of the
federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and -1 -: "'p " I C Chamber of Commerce
and Industry. The SAARC Law Conference, a recognized regional apex SAARC
body, held its 8thAnnual Conference in Nepal in September 2000. As part of its effort
to improve the health sector in the South Asian region, SAARC signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the WHO on 23 August 2000.
The twelfth SAARC summit was held in Islamabad from 4-6 January 2004. This
summit was acclaimed by many as the two leaders of India and Pakistan met with
great bonhomie that augured very well for both improvement in bilateral relations and
fo the development of SAARC process. This summit made far reaching
recommendations in many areas of regional cooperation. Firstly, it signed the SAARC
Social charter which covers issues like poverty alleviation, population stabilisation, Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
empowermentof women, youth mobilisation, human resource development, promotion
 Regional Co-operation of health and nutrition.Al1these are likely to have far reaching impact on the lives of
millions of South Asians. Secondly,wh,ilereaffirming conunitrnent to regional convention
on combating terrorism signed in 1987, they signed an additional protocol to this
convention to deal effectively with financing of terrorism. Thirdly, the members signed
the Framework Agreement of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and implement
the same by January 2006. And finally, the SAARC award was instituted to honour
and encourage outstandingindividuals and organisations within the region in the fields
of peace, development, poverty alleviation and in other areas of regional cooperation.
C
Check Your Progress 2
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with that given at the end of this unit.

1) What were the achievements of the first SAARC summit meeting in Dhaka?

24.4 PROBLEMS BESETTING THE

ORGANISATION
From the above discussions it would appear that the goals of SAARC have been kept
development-oriented. When SAARC was conceived as a regional organization the
vision was clear: to make the region a thriving example of mutual cooperation,collective
self reliance and peacehl [Link] of economicgrowth, the promotion
of welfare of people and improvement in their quality of life have been the central
objectives. Conscious efforts have been made to encourage economic cooperation
and to exclude all contentious and bilateral issues. But while it is laudable to have
development-oriented ambitions, it is uncertain as to what would happen to the
organization once it is called upon to address more down-to-earth political questions
that have vitiated the inter-state relations in the region for decades. The region is full
of contradictions that broadly fall under two heads: divergent security interests and
the Indo-centric nature of the region.
Built in Contradictions
SAARC suffers from a built-in contradiction. India's disproportionately large size
inhibits its neighbour's participation as equal partners, crucial in any cooperative
endeavour. India accounts for 72 per cent of the region's area, 77 per cent of its
population, and 78 [Link] of its GNP. Its armed forces account for about 50 per
cent of the region's total armed strength and if one excludes Pakistan (which accounts
for about 25 per cent), the ratio between India and the remaining five taken together
would be nine to one.
Conflicting Security Perceptions
This gross disparity coupled with distrusts emanating from socio-historical reasons
gives rise to conflicting security outlooks. Excepting Pakistan, India perceives no
threat from any other country within the region. Threat to its security is actually
extra-regional and in this context Pakistan's linkages with China assumes relevance.
For others in the region (excludingBhutan, whose foreign policy is more or less guided
by India, and the Maldives, which is too small to protect itself without India's help, as
the 1988 coup attempt showed), India itself is a threat, which can be faced only
through extra-regional connections. This dichotomy in the region's perceptions and
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU correspondingsecurity doctrines cannot augur well for the SAARC. It is important to
 note that except for rhetorical commitments to Third World solidarity, the New SAARC
International Economic Order, etc., in almostall down-to-earthEast-West confrontations
in the past such as Afghanistan or Kampuchea, the position tended to be India versus
the rest of the region.
Problem of Diverse Political Culture
The diverse political culture ofthe region is also not conducive to cooperation. From
the point of view of governmental systems operative in the region, there are four
democracies (Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka), one military dictatorship
(Pakistan), one monarchy (Bhutan), and one one-party presidential system (the
Maldives). On the question of state-religion relationships, India, notwithstanding its
being predominantly Hindu and of late witnessing an unprecedented Hindu militancy,
stands for secularism, while all the remaining six avoid to declare themselves as such.
Bangladesh, the Maldives and Pakistan have an Islamic thrust; Bhutan and Sri Lanka,
Buddhist; and Nepal, Hindu. With respect to structural linkages with the global system,
which has indeed undergone massive change of late, there were two categories, broadly
speaking. The first,-inwhich India was included, had a fairly powerhl capitalist class
which had over the years developed stakes in both the world capitalist and socialist
systems, though remaining independent of both. The other had deep structural linkages
with the world capitalist system and the bourgeoisie there was largely comprador.
Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka belonged to this category. Bhutan's
economy is largely Indo-centric. That ofNepal is both Indocentric as well as developed
market economies oriented.
These systematic diversities led to divergent nation building strategieswhich tended to
i thrive at each other's expense rather than contribute to each other's gain. For example,
: the region's ethnic mosaic is so complex that the slightest ineptitude by one nation in
2
handling its inter-ethnic relationships casts its shadow on the neighbouring states. In
this context, India bears the brunt in more than one way. Situated at the core of the
region, its boundary touches that of almost all the countries of SAARC while no two
other members have common borders. As a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-
religious society, India offers all the countries in the region some connection to their
ethnic, linguistic, or religious brotherhoods, while no two other countries have cross-
national ethnic populations visible enough to be of any consequence barring the notable
exception of Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The 'Indo-centricity' of the problem often drags
India into the region's ethnic strife, which it seldom relishes. At the same time, however,
India has the opportunity to twist the arm of a recalcitrant neighbour to gain strategic
concessions. If not for India's role in Sinhala-Tamil ethnic strife, the Sri Lankan
government would not have made commitments of the kind enshrined in the Indo-Sri
Lanka accord of July 1987.

b Indo-Pak Conflict
At the crux of South Asia's 'insecurity syndrome' (the phrase was used by Stephen
P. Cohen in 'Security Issue in South Asia,'Asian Survey, Berkeley, 1 2 5 )is the mutual
b
suspicion between India and Pakistan. What Cohen wrote 25 years ago seems to be
still valid. He wrote: "The South Asian security sy-te.n i s an insecurity system, and
the t r a d ~ f ffor
s each regional government involve minimmg insecurity, not maximizing
security. Insecurity, whether due to internal disorder or external conflict, has become
the norm after 25 years of independence, and one cannot honestly say that the situation
will radically change for the better in the foreseeable future. Military bureaucracies
have become an entrenched component of the political order even where they have
I not taken it over; their civilian allies are numerous and powerful and outside powers
have done precious little to ameliorate the situation." The problem, which could not be
solved within the framework ofthe nationalist movement and which led to the partition
of India in 1947, has continued to remain a threat to the region's stability. External
dabbling within and around the region have further complicated the matter. India and
Pakistan have fought three wars so for and have had many border skirmishes. At the Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
moment they are engaged in a war of words over Kashmir. India alleges Pakistan's
 Regional Co-operation moral and material support to Kashmiri militants while Pakistan alleges human rights
violation by the Indian government in Kashmir.
Main Problem: Absence of Required Political Thrust
The cumulative effect of the problem discussed above is the absence of a political
thrust to make SAARC take bold strides. By shying away from 'bilateral and
contentious' issues the organization deprives itself of the opportunityto deliberate on
the most important questions that need to be addressed. This lack of confidence in
each other has its ramifications in &her fields. For example, inter-state trade is still
minuscule. India is a potential supplier of industrial goods and services to almost all
the South Asian states but they prefer to depend on the industrial West, Japan, and
even China instead of India.
India has always been a strong advocate of a South Asian common market ever since
the days of Rajiv Gandhi. There are a number of organisationsand academic institutions
in India including Jawaharlal Nehru University and Research and Information System
for the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (RIS), which have been steadfastly
advocating the cause of regional cooperation and integration in South Asia. They
have carried out very extensive and useful studies and have also worked out the cost
of non-cooperation. A study done by Mahendra P Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru
University indicated that Pakistan lost more than $ 110 million during 1995-97by not
importing tea from India and other SouthAsian countries ("Integrating the Tea Sector
in South Asia : New Opportunities in the Global Market". South Asian Survey,
Delhi, January-June 2001). Pakistan is one of the largest consumers of tea in the
world. However, it imports hardly 16 percent of its total imports of over 150 million
kgs of tea from South Asia. Over 60 percent of its tea imports are from far off Kenya
which is done at a much higher price. Though it attributes the Kashmir problem with
India as the main reason behind such import pattern, it is actually because of the huge
stakes the multinational companies located in Pakistan have in the Kenyan tea gardens.
These companies are the biggest tea traders in Pakistan.
-
Problem of Resource Development
Another area in which progress is negligible is resource development. The Indian
subcontinent's river system is such that if properly tapped, with the entire region in
mind, it would do wonders in terms of development, affording irrigation, power
generation, and drinking water. Here again, regional consciousness gives way to
national susceptibilities. B.G Verghese's book Waters of Hope (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1990) is a clear testimony of how little has been done in this regard
when so much can be done. 'Ultimately" writes Verghese, 'boundaries do not matter,
people do. The vision of SAARC is perhaps most strongly embodied in a collaborative
endeavour to harness the potential of Ganga-Brahmaputra-Barak waters. These are
waters of hope.'

PROSPECTS FOR SAARC

In his book Cooperation and Conflict in South Asia (1989), Partha Ghosh presented
the view that although SAARC had been launched 'the domestic contradictionsofthe
states would militate against making the associationsan effective vehicle of regional
cooperation.' He mentioned several broad systematic diversities and felt that unless
they were removed, the future of SAARC was bleak. These diversities have been
referred to above; viq foms of government, statereligion interactions, structurallinkages
with the global system, nation-building strategies, and so on. The situation does not
seem to have changed much. In the comext of IndoPak relations it has worsened.
Inherent Positive Points of the Region
Given the historical context, topographic and demographic features, natural resource
Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU endowments and socio-cultural ethos, South Asia could be the most natural unit of
cooperation and integration. There are certain inherent points with the region that
must, however, be kept in mind. For example, the regional 'insecurity syndro~ne'has SAARC
probably been overstated. South Asia is one of the world's least militarized regions.
The region, where 20 per cent of the world's population lives, accounts for only 1 per
cent of the world's military expenditure. Other developing regions (excluding China)
with comparable populations spend about 15 per cent of the global military expenditure.
If compared to the developed world, the region's record is even better. The developed
world, which is proud to announce that there has not been any war on its soil since the
Second World War, spends 80 per cent of the global military expenditure and is
responsible for 97 per cent of the world's arms trade and 97 per cent of the global
military R&D. South Asia's fiscal defence burden accounts for about 3 per cent of the
region's GNP, which is higher than Latin America's remarkably low 1.2 per cent, but
less than Africa's 3.2 per cent, and East Asia's 10.9 per cent. It is even lower than the
overall developing world's 4.3 per cent.
Without being optimistic about the future of SAARC, it must be conceded that the
organisation by giving opportunities to regional leaders to meet at somewhat regular
intervals has provided a diplomatic forum in wh'ich they have either settled or watered
down their differences. The Indo-Sri Lankan accord of July 1987 had its origin in the
bilateral talks between India's the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka's
President Junius Jayewardene during the Second SAARC Summit at Bangalore in
November 1986. It has been argued that without SAARC Indo-Pak relations would
have been even worse.
Despite a snail's pace progress, one of the remarkable contributions of SAARC has
been the fact that it has been able to trigger off a whole range of activities outside the
official SAARC forum. These activities in private sector, in non-governmental
organisations and community level activities across the region, have in fact, withstood
all kinds of political ups and downs. The SAARC History Congress, the SAARC
Sociological Congress, anti-Child labour coalitions, traders forum, SAARC writers forum,
SAARC forum of media people and gathering of human rights activists and other
professional including engineers, architects, chartered accountants are resulting in an
ever increasing inter-state intellectual tourism. So the process goes on regardless of
SAARC's officialdom. In fact, the parallel process of activities has far overtaken the
official process with the latter pulling back the former. These are the activities which
will hold SAARC in good stead in the long run and sustain the process.
This also goes to emphasize the emerging vital and critical roles of non-state actors in
the management of South Asian affairs. In a way, the entire spectrum of confidence
building measures (CBMs) we have addressed to in the past in South Asia have to be
re-evaluated, redesigned and rebuilt. So far we have extensively depended on military
and political CBMs in South Asia. However, in the last 50 years, no political and military
CBMs have sustained. The peace and cooperation constituency in the region always
got marginalised. A majority of these CBMs were addressed to only those who had
serious stake holding in perpetuating the conflict and keeping the conflict alive.
Fortunately, these negative stake holders have always been in microscopic minority.
-So we have to think of designing new CBMs particularly'in case of India-Pakistan
conflicts. This takes us to the domain of economic CBMs - the business and other
economic cooperation (Track III diplomacy) as a measure of CBM and peace building
in South Asia. As there are stake holders in keeping the conflict alive, there are stake
holders for building the peace. We have never addressed ourselves to the latter.
The ongoing economic reforms triggered challenges have started drastically changing
the political economy of regional cooperation in South Asia. Economic liberalisation
have tended to increasingly outclass political prejudices, inhibitions and are literally
forcing South Asia to shed the old mind sets of latent hostility. The impact of internal
schisms overflowing the regional vestiges is getting outweighed by the steady rise in
the cost of non-cooperation. The very context and modalities of public policy making
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which were neither transparent nor accountable have begun to show more openness
,.A L-IA ..em-
 Regional Co-operation Against this background, major macro issues like harmonisat ion of economic reforms
with socio-political shift in paradigms in the region as a whole, the widening base of
MNCs participation with a distinct slant on natural resource, technology and
management and the ability and capability of the SAARC partners to withstand both
endogenous and exogenous shocks and forge ahead towards a collective survival are
the three fundamental challenges. The absorptive and the manoeuvring capacity of
the SAARC partners would largely be determined by the approaches towards and
consolidation of each area as they together represent a vast majority of the regional
core competence.

South Asian 'Economic Union

The Ninth SAARC Summit held in Male in 1997 directed the establishment of two
regional high level committees viz., the Independent Expert Group to examine the
functioning of the Integrated Programme of Action (IPA) and the Group of Eminent
Persons (GEP) primarily to develop a long range vision, formulate a perspective plan
of action including a SAARC agenda for 2000 and beyond and spell out the targets
that can and must be achieved by the year 2020. The IEG recommended the drastic
revamping and restructuring of the entire programmes of SAARC. As a result, the
areas of activities under SIPA were reduced from the original eleven to five which
included energy and environment also. On the other hand, the GEP provided a very
comprehensive and clear road map. The GEP recommended that regional economic
integration is necessary and suggested a time bound plan which includes negotiation
of a Treaty for South Asian Free Trade Area by 1999 with implementationcommencing
immediately thereafter and stretching to 2008 for SAARC members and to 2010 for
the SAARC LDCs. It also envisages a SAARC Customs Union by 2015 and a SAARC
Economic Union by 2020. It also made far reaching recommendations in social arena
including on poverty alleviation, empowerment of women and trafficking of women
and children.
The 12h SAARC Summit held in Islamabad also marked a remarkable improvement
in the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan. It reiterated its commitment
made at the 1 lh SAARC Summit at Kathmandu for the creation of a South Asian
Economic Union. Accordingly, the summit decided to move towards the first step of
integration process i.e. the operationalisation of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA)
by 2006.

Check Your Progress 3

Note: i) Use the space given below for your answers.
ii) Check your answers with that given at the end of this unit.

1) Some ofthe problems that come in the way of strengthening regional cooperation
in South Asia are:

2) What factors augur well for the SAARC in the future?

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 SAARC
- - -
LET US SUM UP-

SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is the first major concrete
expression of regional cooperation in South Asia. It comprises seven states-
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Starting from
1985, so far twelve SAARC summits have been held, namely, Dhaka, Bangalore,
Islamabad, Male, Colombo, Dhaka, New Delhi, Male, Colombo, Kathmandu and
Islamabad. The organization has been facing problems on account of certain built in
contradictions,conflicting security perceptions, diverse political cultures and absence
of requisite political will. The predominant position enjoyed by India has also been a
problem. However, there are certain inherent positive points in the region that hopefully
will facilitate building up of a better tomorrow by the SAARC countries.

24.7 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Agwani, M.S., et al, 1983. South Asia: Stability and Regional Cooperation
(Chandigarh: CRRID).

Ghosh, Partha S., 1989. Cooperation and Conflict in South Asia, New Delhi.

Gonsalves, Eric and Nancy Jetly, 1999. The Dynamics of South Asia :Regional
Cooperation and SAARC, Sage,
Lama, Mahendra P, (et al), 1990. Economic Cooperation in the SAARC Region:
i Potential, Constraints and Policies, Interest Publications, New Delhi
Lama, Mahendra P (Ed), 2001. South Asian Growth Quadrangle: Emerging
Opportunities for Economic Partnership, FIICI, New Delhi,
L

i Muni S.D., and Anuradha Muni, 1984. Regional Cooperation in South Asia, New
Delhi.

Sen Gupta, Bhabani, 1988. South Asian Perspectives: Seven Nations in Conflct
and Cooperation, Delhi.

Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and Developing Countries,
2004. South Asia: Development Cooperation Report 2003/04. New Deihi.
i
Shand, Ric, (ed), 1999. Economic Liberalisation in South Asia, Macmillan, Delhi,

24.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES
Check Your Progress 1

1) Your answer should the following points: Continuing efforts to have a regional
organisation since 1947, failure ofNorth South dialogue, rising oil prices, change
in the perception of the leaders of the region..

2) At the apex of the four-tier structure of SAARC is the annual summit meeting of
head of states. Below this are the Foreign Ministers Conference, Standing
Committee of Foreign Secretaries and the Technical Committees of Experts and
Officials.
Check Your Progress 2

1) The summit restored the terms 'non use of force' and 'peaceful settlement of all
disputes' in its preamble. It also decided to give permanence to the organisation Content Digitized by eGyanKosh, IGNOU
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 Regional Cooperation Check Your Progress 3

1) Divergent political cultures ofthe member states, conflicting security perceptions

in general and Indo-Pakistan conflict in particular, absence of political thrust etc.

2) SAARC has great prospects:the region is least militarised; the region has a
common history and culture; the middle class has by and large a uniform
outlook

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