SAARC comes out of limbo since its historic launch in 1985

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, The Daily Star, Asia News Network, Dhaka

When the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was launched in Dhaka through the first summit in 1985, the most elderly leader -- Sri Lankan president late Junius Jayewardene -- cautioned that the new forum faced manifold problems despite potentials but hoped that it would go ahead weathering many a storm.

Nearly nineteen years later, president Chandrika Kumaratunga of the same island state told the inaugural session of the 12th SAARC summit in Islamabad that the regional grouping now needs to swing more into effective action-oriented welfare programs.

As the three-day summit was over the other day culminating on hopes for a better political environment in south Asia, there is no denying that SAARC leaders did not lag behind in deciding positively on certain core issues of collective economic and social benefits.

The signing of agreement in South Asian Free Trade Zone (SAFTA) and stronger emphasis on unremitting efforts for poverty alleviation in world's most densely populated region on one hand reflects forum's eagerness to tackle critical issues inextricably linked with economic emancipation and protocol on curbing terrorism, and on the other, underlines the willingness to improve overall climate in the area as far as possible.

Without going into the brass tacks of the 43-point Islamabad declaration adopted by the summit,one can conclude without much scope for disagreement that the just-concluded SAARC summit has delivered encouragingly more than many had expected.

Consequently, the forum has come out of a sordid situation where many had viewed it with a large degree of disappointment since the summit of the leaders itself hung in the uncertainty for a long time, let alone SAARC's effective functioning.

The 12th SAARC summit -- albeit taking place after a long delay due to political problems between two major member states -- may not necessarily be a great occasion but has definitely been meaningfully productive seen against the background that has afflicted the forum causing dismay and apathy among the well wishers of the grouping.

Indeed, the summit has come as shot in the arms of the SAARC even though none should be under illusion that whatever success that marked the conference of the leaders would drastically change the political, economic and social conditions of the region.

At the first place, the staging of the summit itself was something to cheer about. Undoubtedly, some degree of uncertainty did exist surrounding the summit even at the last stage as host Pakistan was convulsed by a second attempt on the life of president Pervez Musharraf at the heart of the capital rising security concerns for the attending leaders.

But the Pakistani president himself allayed such fears by saying that it is he who is the target of certain forces and not the SAARC summit or any leaders. The confusion was further set at rest by Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who traveled to Islamabad and also held talks with the Pakistani president on the sidelines of the summit.

One should not forget that there are instances of the summit being called off at the last moment. Once it happened when Bangladesh received with shock that the event was postponed at the dying moments when the country had made all the works to host it.

But, finally, the heads of government meeting not only took place but also went off quite satisfactorily. While all the leaders deserve kudos for a fairly successful event, it is necessary to ensure that in the future the summits are held on the schedule and do not fall prey to political acrimony among the member countries.

It is important that the SAARC summit takes place regularly in time as stipulated in the charter of the organization. The charter provides this clearly for the reason that a summit once in a year should not be difficult since members come from one region and their number is not large.

Commonwealth leaders meet once in two years , nonaligned and Islamic countries once in three years. All these groups have big number of members who come from different continents, whereas seven SAARC members are neighbors. Hence the decision for annual conference of the leaders was rational as this should also provide the members to have talks at highest level for overall interest of the region.

Sadly, this vision did not work for the forum as annual summit remained a distant dream even though it was one of the basic intentions of the SAARC. Consequently, the forum suffered in the absence of meetings of their leaders at a regular intervals.

Arguably, the SAARC secretariat and meetings at other levels are useful, but consultations by the leaders are imperative for the development of the organization, which is afflicted by manifold problems mainly stemming from political differences. After all, it is the summit that effectively helps clear the hindrances that scuttle the expected growth of the forum.

Bangladesh has particular reason to be anxious about the SAARC as this country mooted the idea. When late president Ziaur Rahman conceived of the south Asian forum, the proposal was greeted with a large degree of skepticism in certain circles and major nations in the region even dragged their feet in endorsing the concept.

But once it took off following assiduously built painstaking efforts, SAARC did not look back and the nascent forum is now eighteen years old -- the slow progress notwithstanding. The summits should not be subjected to delay as failure to hold the event in time spawns mistrust and doubts about the effectiveness of the forum.

Islamabad summit has reviewed the progress of the SAARC made so far and has succeeded in drawing several programs on the hand. Despite slow achievements, there can hardly be any denial that seven countries have established cooperation in varied fields through the integrated programs of actions(IPA) and the technical committees dealing with important areas have also performed reasonably well.

But the inherent mistrust in the region and particularly between the two main players of the spectrum -- India and Bangladesh is seen to mar the expected development of the forum. The summits always leave a sobering effect on the political climate of the region.

This is the Islamabad summit that has produced a breakthrough in the Indo-Pak dialogue as the two nuclear-powered arch rivals have now agreed for talks in February to further improve their often acrimonious relations. Dialogue which was absent between them for a long time will no doubt help clear misunderstanding although settlement of vexed issues is very difficult although not impossible.

Islamabad summit has taken up a series of programs in the economic, social and other sectors and all these are commendable. It is imperative that the positive spirit is maintained through appropriate and timely follow up actions.

SAARC with its resource constraints cannot do much but the achievements cannot be mean either. A major segment of the vast multitude living in south Asia is mired in abject poverty and it is a kind of bounden duty for the regional leaders to spare no efforts for their economic welfare.

The task is daunting but benefits can be visible even though in a smaller scale provided the forum moves in the desirable direction. The 12th summit has reasons to provide optimism that SAARC will not disappoint more than 135 crore people in the south Asia as well as its well wishers elsewhere.