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| Saturday, 10 January 2004 |
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SAARC: moving into the future by Lynn Ockersz Quite understandably, it was the seemingly dramatic improvement in Indo-Pakistani relations which tended to take centre stage at the recently concluded 12th SAARC Heads of State and Government Summit held in Islamabad. With their prominent penchant for exploiting the dramatic and the sensational, the Western media in particular, were gushing with the Indo-Pakistani "story" which was seen as transforming from the sad and troubled to the happy, peaceful and promising.
If the spotlight of the world media was on the changing fortunes of the Indo-Pakistani relationship and the ground-breaking improvement in their equation which was achieved by the political leaders of these "traditional rivals" of South Asia, it was only to be expected, because it is this equation which is seen as a pivotal moulding force in SAARC developments. Still, there is no denying that the Summit was also a momentous moment in the history of SAARC, which was virtually grounded for a couple of years on account of the steady freezing of Indo-Pakistani ties. Although dramatic progress is yet to be registered by SAARC in particularly the socio-economic sphere, the organisation remains the foremost vehicle for the realisation of the most essential hopes and aspirations of the SAARC masses, who constitute the bulk of the world's poor. It continues to contain the potential for relative regional prosperity although much of it remains to be realised. Nevertheless, the inability of SAARC to insulate itself from divisive tensions deriving from strained ties among some of its leading member states has been a stumbling block to its growth and at no stage in its history was this more evident than over the past two years when Indo-Pakistani relations hit rock-bottom. Consequently, no SAARC Summits could be held over the period in question and the SAARC process ground to almost a halt. However, with India and Pakistan deciding to give peaceful ties a try it was possible to relaunch the SAARC process in full and the 12th Summit was the result. Although this could be considered a moment of rejoicing, SAARC would do well to approach the future with a degree of caution. This is mainly because SAARC has been left virtually at the mercy of the fluctuating fortunes of principally the Indo-Pakistani relationship. While all SAARC decision-making organs and well-wishers are likely to welcome whole-heartedly improving Indo-Pakistani ties and would hope for stepped-up cordiality among the latter, they would be naive to be oblivious to the risks of exposing SAARC to the ups and downs in the Indo-Pakistani equation. The damaging and debilitating impact deteriorating bilateral ties among member states has on SAARC, should prompt the latter to find the means of insulating the regional organization from these divisive tensions. Though the SAARC Charter prohibits the raising of contentious bilateral issues in formal SAARC fora, the lessons learnt so far in this regard, should prompt the forum to workout the relevant mechanisms to enable disputing states to, ideally, iron out their differences and remain engaged in a dispute-resolving dialogue. To the degree to which this aim is achieved, SAARC could be rendered immune to the disruptive fallout from bilateral disputes. Besides, member states need to separate the collective well-being of SAARC from thorny bilateral issues. Meanwhile, the region could take heart from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's pronouncement at the end of the summit on his country's future course with India, amid the problems posed to this detente process by hardline violence in Kashmir: "We need to move strongly in the direction of peace as if there are no such people existing on both sides. We must be strong ..... Whatever shade and colour we'll take them to task. No extremism will be allowed here in Pakistan ..." Indeed, regional peace could very well depend on the resolve of leaders from both sides of the Indo-Pakistani border to deliver on resolutions of this kind. So far, however, bilateral peace and security has fallen prey to domestic political compulsions and opportunistic politics. While SAARC could derive great comfort from the signing of the much awaited South Asia Free Trade Area agreement, the future security and prosperity of the region would depend greatly on whether the economic gains from agreements of this nature would be allowed to percolate down to the masses. Besides, the SAARC Social Charter, which was also inaugurated at the recent summit, should ensure that concrete and successful efforts are made at poverty alleviation in South Asia. Such successes are the best guarantee against the further burgeoning of "terrorism" in South Asia, in regard to which an additional protocol was signed at the Summit. SAARC already has in its possession a handy report brought out in the early nineties by the International South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation, which sets out important approaches to the handling of the poverty issue. These provisions need to be implemented earnestly if the Poverty Bomb and the connected terrorism cancer are to be defused and stymied. The limits of globalization were pointed out by President Kumaratunga. What remains to be done is to look at ways and means of overcoming them in our struggle against poverty. This Report contains an important point of view on poverty alleviation, which deserves to be considered. As the Report states, essentially, the poor of the region should be considered active and creative agents of their own deliverance from the poverty trap. They are not the problem but constitute part of the solution to the poverty issue which is breeding unheard of terror in some parts of South Asia. |
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