South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), organization of South Asian

countries, founded in 1985, that is dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural
development, emphasizing collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members
are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined
the organization in 2007. Headquarters are in Kathmandu, Nepal. Meetings of SAARC heads of
state or government were intended to be held annually, but none have occurred since 2014,
primarily because of tensions between India and Pakistan. As a result, the organization is widely
considered to be defunct; however, Nepal has continued to organize informal meetings of
SAARC foreign ministers.
Stated areas of cooperation include agriculture and rural development; education, security, and
culture; environment, natural disasters, and biotechnology; economics, trade, and finance;
energy, transport, science, and technology; human resource development and tourism; social
affairs; information and poverty alleviation; and public services. The charter stipulates that
decisions are to be unanimous and that “bilateral and contentious issues” are to be avoided.
History

The idea of SAARC was initially developed by the smaller states of South Asia, while India and
Pakistan joined reluctantly. The formation of the organization was formally proposed by
Pres. Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh on May 2, 1980. After Bangladesh’s request to
join ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was denied, Rahman began to consider
the idea of a South Asian regional cooperation organization. He developed the concept in
discussions with King Birendra of Nepal and Pres. J.R. Jayawardene of Sri Lanka in 1977–79.
The leadership of Bhutan and the Maldives soon endorsed the proposal.

India and Pakistan both responded with skepticism. India was concerned that SAARC might
serve as a platform for the smaller South Asian states to band together against India, while
Pakistan feared that SAARC might allow India to lead the smaller states in an organized alliance
against Pakistan.

To address these concerns, Bangladesh initiated a series of meetings between South Asian
ministers at the United Nations in New York City in 1979–80. After these meetings, Bangladesh
proposed that security issues would not be a focus of SAARC cooperation and that only
nonpolitical and noncontroversial issues would be discussed.

As a result, the Declaration on South Asian Regional Cooperation (SARC) was adopted in New
Delhi in August 1983 along with the Integrated Program of Action (IPA), which agreed on five
areas of cooperation: agriculture, rural development, telecommunications, meteorology, and
health and population activities. SAARC was formally established on December 8, 1985, at the
first SAARC summit, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The SAARC Secretariat was established in
Kathmandu, Nepal, on January 17, 1987. Afghanistan applied for SAARC membership in 2005
and joined in 2007.

Objectives
SAARC aims to promote economic growth, social progress and cultural development within the
South Asia region. The objectives of SAARC, as defined in its charter, are as follows:

1. Promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and improve their quality of life

2. Accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region by
providing all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and realise their full potential

3. Promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia

4. Contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another’s problems

5. Promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural,
technical and scientific fields

6. Strengthen co-operation with other developing countries

7. Strengthen co-operation among themselves in international forms on matters of common

interest; and

8. Cooperate with international and regional organisation with similar aims and purposes.
Structure and Process
Cooperation in SAARC is based on respect for the five principles of sovereign equality,
territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in internal affairs of the Member
States and mutual benefit. Regional cooperation is seen as a complement to the bilateral and
multilateral relations of SAARC Member States. SAARC Summits are held annually and the
country hosting the Summit holds the Chair of the Association. Decisions are made on an
unanimity basis while bilateral and contentious issues are excluded from the deliberations of
SAARC. In addition to the eight Member States, nine Observer States join SAARC Summits:
China, the US, Myanmar, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mauritius and the European
Union.
Areas of Cooperation
The Member States agreed on the following areas of cooperation:

 Agriculture and rural development

  Education and culture
 Biotechnology
 Economic, trade and finance
 Energy
 Environment
 Tourism
 Science and Technology
 Information, Communication and Media
 Poverty alleviation
 Security aspects
 People-to-People Contacts
 Funding mechanism
 Social development
Latest Developments
The 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu in 2014 concluded with the adoption of the
SAARC Declaration. The Declaration recognizes labour migration as an issue in need of
collective action. Article 21 states that SAARC countries agree to collaborate to ensure the
protection of migrant workers from South Asia. During the Summit, SAARC leaders also called
for authorities to tackle and prevent the trafficking in women and children.
In regards to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, participating countries aim to initiate an inter-
governmental process to appropriately contextualize the Sustainable Development Goals at the
regional level.

Origin and Objectives of SAARC The rationale for the establishment of SAARC was to improve
regional cooperation. Prior to SAARC’s establishment, the matter of regional cooperation was
raised in different conferences including April 1947 “Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi,
May 1950 Baguio Conference in Philippines and April 1954 Colombo Powers Conference.”
Comprising mainly on four phases of evolution- “Conception (1977-80), the Meeting of Foreign
Secretaries (1981-83), the Meeting of Foreign Secretaries (1983-85), and the Summits (1985-
2016)” -the foremost proposal for the establishment of a framework for regional cooperation was
put forward by the then President of Bangladesh, Zia ur Rahman, on May 2, 1980. The process
started with the meeting between President Zia ur Rahman and newly elected Indian Prime
Minister Morarji Desai on the agenda of regional cooperation. It is pertinent to discuss the
efficacy of regional cooperation for Bangladesh at that time. For this, numerous developments
which led to President Zia ur Rahman’s resolve for the making of a Framework for regional
cooperation (especially during the period of 1975-1979) are as following:
New South Asian leadership of that time was more prone to diplomatic solutions to various
issues; President Zia urRahman needed support to defend his coup d’état regime.
Second oil crisis of 1979 generated balance of payment crisis in South Asia countries; .
Failure of North-South dialogues and increasing protectionism by the developed countries.
Identification of area of cooperation in a report by the Committee on Studies for Cooperation in
Development in South Asia (CSCD).
United States and British assurance of economic assistance on water sharing projects; and Soviet
invasion in Afghanistan

Challenges to the Effectiveness of SAARC:

SAARC’s progress has largely been hindered by lingering regional contentions. In other words,
its ineffectiveness is embroiled in the regional security complex of South Asia. Though SAARC
has completed almost 32 years since its inception in 1985, it could not learn to benefit from its
geo-strategic location in the world politics and remained poorest, when compared with other
regions. Regrettably, it has continuously been showing downward trends in previous years as
well. The causes of less progress of SAARC in South Asia are many; nevertheless, Indo-Pak
rivalry and India’s negative politics to isolate Pakistan in the SAARC region are noteworthy.
With the purpose of distancing other SAARC countries from Pakistan, India is promoting the
sub-regional grouping through the “Bay of Bengal Initiative” for MultiSectoral Technical and
Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC), which provides a BBIN-plus platform.”
The Indian government also invited the leaders of the BIMSTEC countries to attend the 8th
Summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Afghanistan. Moreover, another
regional body, “South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) was established in
2001. It comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.” Trade,
transport and energy projects are the priorities in its Operational Plan 2016-2025 that is worth
billions of dollars.34 In their regional initiatives, SASEC countries have endeavored to
implement projects pertaining to “energy, economic corridor development, transport, trade
facilitation, and information and communications technology sectors worth more than $9 billion
in the.”35 The initiative, in this regard, is expected to increase mutually beneficial trade between
the seven SASEC countries. Another initiative “the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal
(BBIN), could be seen as a precursor to a possible formal sub-SAARC groupingrica) as its
observer. India has signed the Motor Vehicles Agreement with Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
This agreement is made to facilitate the seamless movement of people and goods across their
borders for the benefit and integration of the region and its economic development. India along
with Myanmar is also developing multi-national transport infrastructure on various platforms
like SAARC, ASEAN, SASEC, BIMSTEC, Bangladesh-China-India, Myanmar (BCIM), “India-
Myanmar-Thailand (IMT)”37, and “Mekong Ganga Co-operation (MGC/Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam).”

Additionally, India is “re-engaging Iran to access Afghanistan via Chabahar, bypassing

Pakistan.”39 For this purpose, it cooperated to “develop the strategic port of Chabahar in Iran
and agreed on a three nation pact to build a transport-and-trade corridor through Afghanistan.”40
Its major objective is to bypass Pakistan, access Central Asian and global markets and also serve
as an American watchdog in the region to counter China’s peaceful rise. One more initiative
“Nepal-India (Dehli-Kathmandu Bus Service) via Sunauli border is India’s plan to connect to
Nepal.” The bus service is part of the Motor Vehicles Agreement between the two nations. They
will operate on three bus routes – Kathmandu-New Delhi, Pokhara-New Delhi and Kathmandu-
Benares. The above mentioned sub-regional grouping by India and other SAARC countries are
being considered as reducing the efficacy of SAARC. Since 1947, due to the Kashmir dispute,
India and Pakistan remained at loggerhead. Various initiatives, no doubt, have been taken to
normalize these hostile relations; but, the greater share of responsibility for bad relations also
goes to India because of being the largest political player of South Asia. It is the largest among
SAARC countries. It has preponderance in economic, technological and military sectors of South
Asia. Except Afghanistan, India has all other states on its periphery. It is connected to all of them
and holds three quarters of regional GDP. But instead of playing a positive role in SAARC for
the welfare of the people of this region, India has played games and used SAARC for political
gains and to undermine Pakistan’s position. While no bilateral disputes are supposed to be
discussed at the SAARC platform, India has been using bilateral issues to postpone SAARC
meeting. For instance, the last summit of SAARC to be held in Pakistan in 2016 was postponed
after India announced that it will boycott the summit because of “cross-borderterrorist attacks in
the region.”42 Besides, the regional countries too could not reach a common dispute resolution
mechanism. As a result, some lingering dispute resulted in the distortion of SAARC meetings or
summits time and again. Another such issue is the absence of trust. The level of distrust among
SAARC member countries is an ongoing hurdle to the effective functioning of SAARC. In a
similar way, it has caused the cancellation, disruptions and ineffectiveness of SAARC summits
time and again. Dr. Manzoor Ahmad ofInternational Islamic University Islamabad in his paper
entitled, “SAARC Summits 1985-2016: The Cancellation Phenomenon” describes reasons for
the failure of SAARC summits and its implications for the organization as well as regional
cooperation. According to the author, “the most significant reason (for the cancellation of
SAARC Summits) include members’ bilateral disputes; political problems and contentious
issues, with India being a party in almost all of them.”43 Main reason for the failure of SAARC
have been India’s efforts to use the platform of SAARC against Pakistan, despite the fact that the
latter has made positive contribution to make the SAARC efficient.

Revitalizing SAARC Would be Beneficial:

It is usually being asserted by India that “SAARC is constantly sinking into irrelevance.”44
SAARC critics bring up aforementioned causes of the failures of SAARC as an argument to look
for options beyond SAARC and find substitutes for regional cooperation. Interestingly, these
arguments or criticism are also correct. This does not mean that SAARC should be
abandoned but there is a need of renewed efforts to rethink regional priorities and enabling
SAARC to fulfill its promises, not the other way around. So, the main question to be asked here
is: why is it pertinent for South Asian states to connect themselves through a regional
organization, such as SAARC? The simple answer is: Regional Cooperation. It is only through
connectivity by which South Asian states could augment their economic growth rate in the face
of an expanding population. Maintaining economic growth rate only is not enough to meet the
standards of human security.45 The countries now need to continuously increase their socio-
economic development through increasing economic growth rate because of increasing non-
traditional security threats in the region, such as climate change. Similarly, to harness the fast
developing manufacturing sector in South Asia, regional states need to connect themselves with
one another through gas pipeline projects as they are considered to be playing a vital role in
importing energy from Central and West Asia. Moreover, TurkmenistanAfghanistan-Pakistan-
India (TAPI) and Iran-Pakistan (are also salient for energy supply. Though these extra regional
initiatives are promising, yet hoping for a breakthrough in near future is improbable because
India has already pulled out of IP and the future of TAPI gas pipeline is connected with durable
peace and stability in AfghanistanSecond, connectivity for South Asian states is also a
prerequisite to attract greater investment from the outside world. If the region is economically
integrated, the projects like ‘Make in India,’ the “ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),”47
the Bay of Bengal Initiative and a corridor networking Chabahar with Central Asia and similar
networks to be initiated in Myanmar with Chinese and Indian investment would multiply not
only the incoming investment but also its benefits owing to decreased trust deficit and
subsequent hurdles. Similarly, the Heart of Asia process, by establishing peace and stability in
Afghanistan, would bring investment as well and will smoothen the operationalization of
existing economic, transit trade and energy projects.
Reactivating Regional Cooperation under SAARC would be Beneficial:
It can be inferred from the above discussion that regional connectivity is the lynchpin of peace,
stability, development and prosperity in South Asia. In the contemporary international
environment, the significance of South Asia is not only gauged by the fact that it has one fifth
population of the world. It also covers an area of 5.22 million square kilometers and is abundant
in natural resources. Another fact is that it is home to two nuclear weapon giants: India and
Pakistan. The region has become an attractive global market because of its economic growth and
vast potential. Its political and strategic importance is increasing with every passing day. As
mentioned earlier, South Asia currently, is facing multidimensional challenges, both traditional
and non-traditional security threats. Notwithstanding these challenges, there still exists huge
economic potential.
Efficacy of SAARC:
Future Prospects SAARC is still effective but there is a lot of work which needs to be done for
making it more relevant. The organization is very much alive. The alarming fact is that one
canceled meeting is taken as an indication that SAARC has become completely ineffective and
should be abandoned. The relationship between India and Bangladesh or India and Sri Lanka ten
years ago was not exactly as cooperative as today. Progress is made by leadership which is truly
powerful, mature and wise in every aspect. The fact that one particular relationship is not yet
matured should not lead the states to a conclusion that this entire constellation of countries
cannot relate. The nature of the conflict in Europe was much pessimistic but today it is the best
example of regional integration. It did not happen overnight; there were many cancelled
meetings and fail ed steps that brought Europe to where it is today. No doubt it has come through
part. Though, the “19th SAARC Summit to be held in Pakistan was postponed after India refused
to participate”, but it should not be a worrisome matter if only one of all SAARC Summits was
postponed. There should not be any illogical reason for this kind of apprehension. The hope is
that next the SAARC Summit could take place in the near future. It should be kept in mind that
SAARC is not meant only for economic cooperation but also for cultural and people to people
contact, and for all the resource sharing in the region. Palpable Economic Ventures under
SAARC Currently, South Asia has a small business venture; however there could be high
number of business opportunities. There are 1.8 billion people living in South Asia. The GDP
Growth is 7 percent. About 25 percent of the world’s middle class is living in this particular
region. This could be taken as a huge opportunity. Though the total level of intra-regional trade
today is 5 percent of the total trade but it could be increased. The states have to start small and
think really big but without any hurry. Every regional stakeholder needs to begin taking small
steps. The Motor Vehicle Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan and India is such an example.
Starting with bilateral or with two or more countries is a good idea. Moreover, cross border
movement will open up a supply chain opportunity. Pakistan should suggest small, bilateral,
trilateral, quadrilaterals relations. In other words, it has to do whatever is possible. Eventually,
this mosaic and jigsaw will begin to fill with trade. As the economic linkages strengthen, the
inherent potential for conflict will reduce. Connectivity and free movement of people in Europe
has been a huge advantage for trade. There is no direct connection between Delhi
and Islamabad, but the trade between two countries happens via Dubai.
So, direct connectivity, visas, arrival and facilitating movement of people
are precursors to good trade.
The normalization of relations between India and Pakistan will take
time. There is enough evidence from big countries that without resolving
the issues, a country can still start trading. The anticipated SAARC Summit
in 2016 in Pakistan could have been a beginning of the transformational
movement. There is still an element of common toes where SAARC is
today? The brave and resilient leadership is a necessity to do this. South
Asia has a brave leadership with women also in politics. The smaller
countries need to particularly push India to be the big country with a big
heart, and to do this it has to invest in multilateral forums.

Indo-Pak Rapprochement
Pakistan’s disturbed relations with India have also hindered its trade relations with other SAARC
countries. For instance, Pakistan has minimal trade relations with Nepal and Bhutan because of
geographical constraints. Similarly, India has more trade relations with Bangladesh and Sri
Lanka than these countries have with Pakistan. The core problem remains that Pakistan has to
have good relations with India for trade with Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In a
similar way, India depends on Pakistan’s cooperation for land trade route to Afghanistan.
Moreover, it becomes more difficult if there is an obvious asymmetry between two states, with
the stronger party unwilling to renounce the use of force. Therefore, both India and Pakistan need
to normalize their relationship for effective regional integration.
Revamping other Thematic Issues
In South Asia, more importance is given to trade and too little initiative is
taken to solve issues like education, health-care, information, commonvalues, articulation,
women-child malnutrition, equal-opportunity
enforcement etc. All issues are particularly prevalent in the region and
are source of difficulties among the countries and the very reason for a
communion into SAARC. These issues need to be addressed on a priority
basis, especially poverty alleviation and education. Moreover, the
internet connectivity within the region can be of great importance for education and to transform
the educational platform. The educational
reach across the region is possible through using the internet. It does not
require school buildings, hiring of hundreds or thousands of qualified
teachers and other infrastructure which require a huge capital.
SAARC as a Non-Political Forum
Since its inception, SAARC was never a political forum. On Indian
demand, a clause was made and included stating that all bilateral political
issues and conflicts between states will not be discussed on SAARC
platform. India itself has been exploiting the forum for political
objectives. The primary objective of establishing a body like SAARC was to
promote welfare of South Asian people and improve in their life
standards; yet its achievements for the said objectives are fewer. India
also has attempted a “minus-Pakistan formula”58, and is exploring
options for alternative regional alliances.
Menace of Climate Change (CC)
Another welcome step by SAARC is the launch of SAARC satellite to boost
cooperation in telecommunication among the member countries.
Bangladesh is combating the impacts of CC by setting up a climate
change trust fund with own funding of $400 million. It does not rely on
others alongside framing some 134 action plans to tackle the implicationsof CC. Pakistan’s
Ministry of CC can collaborate with the relevant
ministries in the region and assist the Bengali government. Pakistan is
one of the four countries who have presented and are working on
‘Climate Action Bill.’ Therefore, Pakistan could sign MoUs with
Bangladesh for joint ventures to tackle the climate change induced
threats.59
SAARC member countries have consensus on CC and environmental
protection. SAARC has already appreciated Bhutan's concept, the 'Gross
National Happiness.' It believes that this concept is a lesson for China and
for all mankind as it allows sustainable growth without endangering the
earth.
SAARC Summit on Annual Basis
The annual meetings of SAARC are a means to promote social
connections between key global power players and national leaders.
Unless India cooperates willingly by participating in the process and does
not bring in its bilateral political issues with Pakistan into consideration of
improving trade connectivity, SAARC simply cannot move forward.
Pakistan also needs to propose that “SAARC summit must be held no
matter what may come for effective working of SAARC.”60
A Greater SAARC
A greater SAARC concept was propagated by Senator Mushahid Hussein
Syed, during his New York visit in 2016. This greater South Asia includes
China, Iran and the neighboring Central Asian Republics (CARs). CPEC is
considered the most important economic route which can link South Asia
with Central Asia. Similarly, the Gwadar port would be the nearest warmwater port, not only for
China but also for the landlocked CARs. Pakistan
has already invited its neighbor India to join the initiative. Landlocked
Afghanistan is most likely to get the most benefits from a greater South
Asian alliance.“Afghanistan’s presence in SAARC justifies Pakistan’s
argument that Central Asian nations can be includedin a greater South Asia This would
essentially help Pakistan in tackling India’s hegemony
over the organization, giving it more chances of effective
operationalization. It will also provide Pakistan with a greater
maneuvering space in case India tries to isolate Pakistan regionally.
Smart Borders
Like the EU, the whole idea of SAARC is a common market. The economy
of a scale even in a smaller country like Bhutan can benefit from
BIMSTEC. To get all the encompassing issues, like connectivity, people to
people contact and free trade in the region, it should fall in a place so
that the whole region can benefit.
There is a need for smart borders or seamless connectivity in the
whole region. It includes not only roads and bridges but maritime,
railway, telecom, and the rest of it. The trade can go to 100 billion62 if
SAARC countries just ensure seamless connectivity in the region because
doing business with neighboring states is cheaper than doing it with
countries in North America. The transportation cost and the barriers at
the custom point are really not enablingower Sharing - The SAARC Grid63
Power can be a tradable product in the South Asian region easily. Same
strategy can be formulated to manage water through common basin
management. Similarly, there are great prospects for intra-state
electricity trade among the SAARC countries. The SAARC working group
on energy also reflects this objective. Another initiative could be the
creation of a power pool or the ‘SAARC grid’ to enable the region to
utilize its sources of electricity optimally by balancing the demand and
supply. It would not only make electricity cheaper but also reliable.
Additionally, it would create interdependence among SAARC countries to
a win-win solution
Sharing Water
Himalayas are the water towers of Asia. They have the hydro-power
potential to supply electricity to the entire region. Power trade with
Central Asia offers vast opportunities. Countries, such as Tajikistan and
Kyrgyz Republic have excessive hydro resources of wells. They are more
than public domestic need. Pakistan and India can offer them major
import markets. Regional cooperation can also help tap natural
complementarities. For instance, when Bhutan and Nepal’s rivers are full
of water in the summer, there is a vast hydro power generation potential.
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have the greater demand for electricity to
cope with the summer heat. Less than 20% of South Asia’s hydropower
potential is developed while energy sharing also remains minimum. By
developing this hydro potential, building cross border transmission lines
and eventually emerging into a regional energy market, electricity can
reach thousands of energy businesses and billions of people still living in the dark. The great
rivers of South Asia like Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra are more than just energy potential.
They support life and supply resources; however, conflicting demands on these waters cause
tensions, distrust and little or no cooperation between countries while the risks from
natural disasters and climate change continue to grow. During past two decades, natural disasters
affected over 800 million people and billions of dollars were lost. With cross border cooperation
on water and river basins, flood forecasting and early warning systems, lives and resources can
be saved.
Sharing Goods and Services
Trade among the countries of South Asia could increase economic growth enormously. The trade
potential in South Asia is 100%; yet, its intraregional trade is the lowest in the world making less
than 5 % of the total world trade. The land locked countries and sub-regions are affected the
most since they depend on the neighboring states to access the sea and global markets. Goods are
often moved through secure routes sometimes up to eight times the distance to destination.
Border crossings are so heavily congested taking take days to cross. As a result it costs
more to trade within South Asia than with the countries outside the region. For example, despite
the geographic neighbors, the trade cost between India and Pakistan is 20 % more than India to
Brazil which is over 9000 miles away. South Asia already has the resources to meet its
development challenges; the water, energy and trade potential are waiting to be developed. What
is needed is cooperation.
Consequently, following steps are the cornerstone to revitalize regional cooperation under
SAARC:
1. Political will for regional connectivity will decrease the level of conflict, insecurity and
underdevelopment in South Asia. Resumption of composite dialogues should be assured to
normalize relations between India and Pakistan as apparently cordial Indo-Pak ties can
reincarnate SAARC.
3. The use of hard power to eradicate terrorism and to establish law and order could not bring
socio-economic development to the people of affected areas in South Asia. Therefore, use of
political and economic approaches in conjunction with the boots on the ground is necessary.
4. Owing to proximity among South Asian states, cross-border cooperation is inevitable if
reduction of conflicts, tackling the menace of terrorism and smooth trade is the intention of
South Asian leaders.
5. Nepal and Bhutan can play a decisive role in regional integration through SAARC. Both
nations are abundant in hydropower but there is a need to look for regional economic
cooperation for prosperity. Through joint economic initiatives, both targets can be achieved.
6. China’s full membership in SAARC could bring stability in SAARC working. It can definitely
reduce Indian political and economic clout on it. Over and above that, China is already investing
in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal in the shape of CPEC and other such economic
ventures. So, construction of CPEC and BCIM corridors will strengthen inter-regional
connectivity among South Asian countries as well as their intra-regional association.
7. Most importantly, peace in Afghanistan is not possible without regional cooperation. Pakistan
would be having a central role in it. Nevertheless, SAARC members could help in sustaining the
peace initiatives, such as Heart of Asia process as well as operationalizing trade and energy
corridors for Afghanistan in particular and South Asia in general.
The South Asian countries could follow best practices by other regional organizations like
ASEAN and EU etc. Learning from their practices and mistakes would build stronger regional
ties to fulfill regional objectives.
10. Normalization of political relations between SAARC member states, especially between
India and Pakistan, should be encouraged for better SAARC interaction.
11. SAARC does not have any robust conflict-resolution mechanism like that of ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF) where the South Asian states could discuss and move forward from their
political disputes. The annual summits and periodic ministerial meetings do not usually result in
desired outcomes. Therefore, political will for the establishment of a mechanism to resolve such
disputes is also need of the hour.
12. There is also an urgent need to promote tourism among the SAARC member states. It can
stimulate confidence amongst people as well as enhance people-to-people contact of the region
for greater economic cooperation.
13. Establishing joint infrastructure funds are also important. They can work as a joint
investment company to facilitate connectivity and cross border investments in the region, which
could result in the establishment of a SAARC bank to facilitate the process.
14. One of the very crucial issues that SAARC as a regional forum has not formally discussed
yet is human rights. No committee has ever been created within SAARC to discuss and promote
this basic issue. India itself is abusing human rights in Indian Occupied Kashmir by coercing
laws like “Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act 1978; Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act (TADA) 1987; Armed Forces Special Power Act 1990 and Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA).”64 Moreover, being cognizant of this reality thoroughly, India, already
having major portion of Kashmir, feels that it can maintain status quo over Kashmir easily.
This has led India to pursue delaying tactics over negotiations. Moreover, India thinks that over
time Kashmiri movements will die down slowly and gradually. Therefore, SAARC as an
organization should take positive measures to ensure an environment that enables all people in
the region to enjoy their rights.
15. India does not show its willingness to cooperate under the ambit of SAARC but developing a
common vision for regional growth is necessary for the future of SAARC. All SAARC member
states should be on one page to keep SAARC alive.
16. SAARC can also benefit from a framework with the objectives of a secure regional
environment by joint planning of civilian and military operations and comprehensive approach to
crisis management like that of the EU’s Crisis Management and Planning Directorate (CMPD).