Dr Sudershan Kumar
Inviting the Heads of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) states on the occasion of the swearing in ceremony by our Prime Minister on 24th May 2014 at the forecourts of Rashtrapati bhawan was a masterstroke and carried an enormous symbolic significance forecasting the vision for the establishment of close-cooperation among SAARC member states. This move of Narendra Modi can be seen as a paradigm shift in the policy of India towards SAARC members and was even well appreciated by the American policy planners and experts. In a way ,it is a step forward towards opening of a new window for intense interactions, mutual cooperation between SAARC countries and a way forward towards the path of simultaneous development. Significantly ,this step to outreach these nations laid to rest the fear and speculations among the SAARC member countries regarding India’s dominance and convinced them about India’s stand and commitment towards their economic development and prosperity in the present global order. Furthermore , imbibing SAARC countries’ role in India’s global outreach and the policy to look East is a clear signal not only to the giant China but to the whole world about the future role of India as a global player in the 21st century. Established in December 1985, with seven member countries namely India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Maldives,SAARC can be seen as a geopolitical union of nations. Subsequently Afghanistan also joined this group thereby increasing the strength to eight with 9 members as observers. Its headquarter was established at Kathmandu(Nepal Capital) with Bangladesh as ambassador. Abdul Ahsan was its first Secretary General. SAARC ‘ s prime objective was mainly to provide dignified livelihood to the people and also to promote the welfare of public through self reliance. Till date, eighteen summits of SAARC member states have been held in the capital of each of the participating country. First was held in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on 7 – 8th December 1985 and eighteenth summit was organized at Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital on 26th – 27th November, 2014. These eight SAARC member states have a total area of around 5099611 sq km, population of around 1713870,000, GDP(PPP) of around 9.8 trillion. Since its establishment, multiple summits have been held to determine and adjudicate SAARC’s role and the outcomes have been the following;. constitution of study group concerning problem of terrorism, creation of SAARC food resource, initiative of providing visa exemptions for parliamentarians, National Judges, Academicians and their families, launching of a scheme for the promotion of tourism in each state.
Acting in accordance with its responsibilities, SAARC member states decided to declare (1990-2000) decade as the decade of girl child, 1991 as the year of SAARC shelter, and 1993 as the year of disabled person. Also, extreme emphasis has been laid on the issues related to energy, connectivity, environmental and water resources. Moreover, as a step further to usher in more mutual cooperation, setting up of SAARC development fund was accomplished to build up infrastructure and fortify co-operation in communication, technology. Also working towards arriving at a Free trade Agreement between SAARC member states was envisaged and completed. Besides a short, medium, and long term strategy was evolved for greater co-operation with international community to ensure the availability of food and nutrients among the masses of SAARC states. Emphasis has also been laid upon green and happy South Asia and discussions have regularly been held on issues concerning climate change. During the last summit at Kathamandu, the focus was made to deepen regional cooperation for maintaining peace, prosperity and amity and promoting mutual trust with emphasis on issues related to legal provision of SAARC satellite schemes.
Besides its role in SAARC, Govt. of India over a span of seventy years has also signed bilateral agreements with Nepal Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka Pakistan, Maldive and Afghanistan. First was the India Nepal Peace and friendship treaty (INPAFT) signed on 13th July,1950. This treaty allowed free movement of people, and goods between two nations and collaboration in matters of defence and foreign policy. But at times, successive Governments in Nepal have remained speculative and raised certain concerns hindering the Indo-Nepal relation building. According to them, the present world order is entirely different as compared to that of 1950. Therefore, a relook in the policy seems imperative to prevent the nurturing of any mistrust. Second and significant in today’s scenario is the India Bhutan treaty of friendship signed on 8th August 1949. Bhutan shares around 605 kms border with India. As per the treaty,Bhutan is seen as an Inddian protectorate and it is India who is supposed to protect sovereignty territorial integrity of of Bhutan. Therefore the present India China impasse at Doklam is the outcome of this treaty. Thirdly and similarly, India Bangladesh treaty of friendship and cooperation was signed between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 17 March 1972 popularly known as the Indira Mujib accord. Initially, this accord was appreciated by people and governments of both the countries but after Sheikh.Mujibur Rahman’ s assassination during a military coup, the successive governments in Bangladesh had certain reservations about this. The treaty was not extended further after it’s expiry in 1999.Subsequently, various issues related to water sharing and boundary also cropped up.
Furthermore, India and Sri Lanka too signed an accord on 19th July, 1987 commonly known as India Sri Lanka peace accord. As per the provisions of the accord, Indian Government was to extend military support to Sri Lankan Government for containing civil war going on between various Tamil groups and Sri Lankan army in the Jaffana area. Subsequently, this support became counter productive when Sri Lankan Government joined hands with LITTE faction and requested Govt. of India for withdrawal of Indian troops. Although India’s relation with Sri Lanka are quite cordial at present yet few stray incidents and fishing disputes crop up at Palk strait area where distance between Indian and Sri Lankan boundaries is around 12 nautical miles.
Fifth and most pertinent to mention is the India-Pakistan relation building over the years. India has been at the forefront for facilitation of cordial relations between the two neighbours and has also signed agreements with Pakistan. Notably among them being the Tashkant Agreement in 1966 and the Simla agreement in 1972 but ironically every time, Pakistan has betrayed and back stabbed India.
Besides, Government of India has also signed strategic Partnership agreements with Afghanistan on 4th October,2011 and free trade agreement with Maldives.
It is heartening to note that even after seven decades, SAARC has been targeted as all talk no action group by critiques. The gap between declarations, announcements and concrete steps need to be bridged. Hence need of the hour is to introspect that what went wrong, when and where and what is the way out? The reasons may be many, but the most widely quoted reasons are Indo-Pak rivalry, lack of initiative on the part of India even to address the trivial issues between SAARC countries. Even the India’s policy planners could not create a congenial environment based on trust, to foster healthy relations amongst the SAARC member states. India’s dream to become a global superpower can’t be delinked from south Asia. Furthermore,the fire of trust deficit was further fuelled in by Giant China via infusion of funds and creation of infrastructure for its use. Dragon was able to encircle India through the string of pearls by creating /upgrading ports at Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and even at Myanmar thus creating a menace to India’s security and can be seen as a repercussion of this mistrust.
Therefore, it is high time that the Govt. of India should re look its relationship with all the neighbouring countries and evolve a road map for the next 50 to 100 years keeping in mind long term vision of India in the present global arena. A collective effort is required to make the south asian region a global hub of economy and opportunities with India at its forefront.
Needless to mention here,the present Government has already initiated few steps in this direction. . Prime Minister’s initiative of inviting SAARC heads of state to his swearing in ceremony, his subsequent visits to SAARC member state has infused the confidence in them about India’ s noble intention of building mutual trust and respect. India’ s initiative of resolving boundary dispute with Bangladesh is the right step in that direction. Besides launch of SAARC satellite (GSAT) on 5TH May 2017 by ISRO was another milestone in the Indo SAARC relations. Also now is the right time that the Indian Government addresses the issues between these states and intensifies cooperation and also builds infrastructure and shares technology with these member states in some major areas. These being agriculture, education health and road constructions , power, tourism and defence. This will be viewed as a major initiative towards upliftment of socio economic condition of these countries.
These steps will go a long way to counter the Dragon in the 21st century and curbing it’s aspiration to become a global player.
(The author is former Director General DRDO & Special Secretary MOD GOI)
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