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चैत्र कृष्ण पक्ष, गुरूवार, तृतीया, संकट निवारण चर्तुथी

SAARC has to adopt new approach

- SAARC has to adopt new approach




Chintamani Mahapatra

What has the tenth summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation at Colombo achieved? Analysts around the world must be making their own respective judgements over this issue. A quick post-mortem analysis, however, reveals that the key issues remain the same, the problems remain the same, and there was no agreement over any innovative approach to give concrete shape to the evolution of the organisation in the aftermath of the nuclearisation of the subcontinent. It was largely a case of India proposed and Pakistan disposed and vice-versa.

Ever since the nuclearisation of the Indian subcontinent with the Indian and the Pakistani nuclear tests of last May, the entire world has been keeping a watchful eye on these two countries. One of the strong concerns of several world leaders has been that Kashmir, being a flashpoint of conflict, has the potential to spark off a nuclear war in the region.

For Indian as well as Pakistani analysts, such concerns are hogwash. The two countries, which have never fought a war in the last more than a quarter of a century, are unlikely to blow up each other with their nuclear capability. A sort of deterrence has already been working in the subcontinent since the mid-1980s, and the latest round of nuclear tests merely altered the covert nuclear status of both countries.

However, Pakistan has sought to make the maximum capital out of the international fear about a potential nuclear exchange in the region. The Kashmir issue has been used as a strong bargaining chip by Pakistan. Islamabad recently said that it would not sign the CTBT unless the Kashmir issue is resolved. Earlier, it sought to link up Kashmir with the nuclear issue and justified its nuclear weapons programme. It has sought to internationalise this issue at every occasion, and SAARC meetings are no exception.

There were expectations that after overtly going nuclear and keeping in place the doctrine of deterrence, India and Pakistan would move forward to alter the status of mutual relationships. But Pakistan’s insistence on internationalisation of the Kashmir issue smells of bad Cold War odour and threatens to undo any positive developments in SAARC.

It is high time both India and Pakistan together realised the common external danger and came together to meet the emerging challenges. The minimum first step in this regard should be a complete thaw in the tense relationship. There has to be a regional detente without any conditionalities and total abandonment of adverse political propaganda. The second step requires a standstill approach to Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan have to postpone any sort of proactive policy and even any discussion of the issue. While the Line of Actual Control has the potential of becoming the acceptable boundary, neither New Delhi nor Islamabad can accept this proposal due to their domestic compulsions. But an agreement on peace and tranquillity along the Line of Control cannot be a bad idea. In the meantime, India and Pakistan should begin to cooperate on larger global issues and regional issues of non-political nature. Cooperation in such areas can serve as effective confidence-building measures.

It is true that SAARC has made it a taboo to raise bilateral issues at its meetings. But at the same time it has facilitated bilateral dialogue in the corridors and sidelines of conference venues. Such facilitation should be made a regular practice. After all, most of the issues in South Asia are of bilateral nature. And the Heads of Government hardly find time to hold bilateral summits. SAARC can always provide this opportunity by evolving new approaches. But the Pakistani proposal to alter the SAARC charter to allow discussion on security issues was naughty and a negative approach. It was the surest way to negate any further positive evolution of SAARC. Bilateralism should never be the part of SAARC charter. The SAARC meetings, whether ministerial ones or summits, should only be allowed to facilitate bilateral exchanges between Indian and other leaders.

Despite its failings and shortcomings, SAARC has taken several bold steps, including establishing a framework for SAPTA (South Asian Preferential Trade Arrangement) and SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area). India made a fine gesture at Colombo by announcing that it would remove import restrictions on over 2000 products to facilitate intra-regional trade. With the solitary exception of Pakistan, all other member-countries of SAARC also agreed on the need to hasten the process by two years to realise SAFTA by 2001. There are, no doubt, several hurdles to cross. The fears and apprehensions among the neighbours that Indian goods would flood their markets need to be addressed. After all, trade is going to be a two-way process. — INFA
(The writer is associated with the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.)

DISCLAIMER:

The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article.

Courtesy: The Tribune: 6 August, 2019