SAARC summit stalled by bickering
SAARC summit stalled by bickering
The Daily Star, Asia News Network, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Pakistan's decision to put off next month's South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit for an indefinite period is as unfortunate as it is regrettable. With New Delhi holding back its decision to attend on an open-ended condition that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would only travel to Islamabad if Pakistan stopped sponsoring "cross-border" terrorism in India-administered Kashmir, the seven-nation meet had already been under a cloud of doubt.
Still, the smaller countries of SAARC, such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal would surely feel hard done by at the postponement. More so given the fact that the upcoming summit was set to take two regional trade pacts, the SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement and the SAARC Free Trade Agreement, forward. These nations are left with only the hope that there would be a change of heart on New Delhi's part and that "the summit will be reconvened at the earliest possible time".
Even if it is for now, the reality has been that the regularity of summitry exercise, or for that matter, the continuity of SAARC's progress has been subject to the vicissitudes of bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan. Whenever there was a dip in their relations, it got reflected on the summit in the shape of postponement.
The previous summit in Kathmandu had been rescheduled several times, as Vajpayee refused to share the same stage with Gen. Pervez Musharraf, before being finally held in January this year. And when it was decided that Islamabad would hold the 12th SAARC summit, one could easily smell trouble. Then came the May showdown between India and Pakistan over the militant attack on the parliament building in New Delhi. Both countries went to the brink of a full-scale war. Thankfully, international community intervened and hectic western diplomacy averted what might have led to dire consequences.
Therefore, "to get the SAARC back on track as early as possible", the other member-countries must devise means not to let the India-Pakistan relations hamper the progress of the regional bloc. The first step in that direction would be to have summitry prospects delink from any extraneous reference to issues and bilateral mood-plays. That done, the summit takes place and it works on the sidelines to bring India and Pakistan back to the negotiation table.
A daunting task; but as the future of SAARC hinges on effective participation from India and Pakistan, this has to be ensured by all means.