Staying focused

Hopeful eyes watched as the 17^th meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) kicked off in Addu, Maldives, yesterday. Indeed, more closely monitored and analysed will be the meeting between the ministers and prime ministers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the summit. Already the upbeat statements of foreign ministers S M Krishna and Hina Rabbani Khar have been widely reported as further signs of thawing of relations between the two arch rivals. Without doubt the Pakistan government’s decision to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India just weeks ahead of the summit set the tone for constructive developments in bilateral relations. The sweetener was the civilised and professional manner in which an Indian helicopter that had strayed into Pakistani territory recently was returned to India within hours.

The lack of cooperation between India and Pakistan is viewed as having been the stumbling block to SAARC developing into an effective regional organisation thus far. Having come into being 26 years ago with the aim of improving the quality of life for the South Asian population, which now stands at 1.5 billion, SAARC has achieved anything but that. One raison d’être of SAARC was expansion and promotion of regional trade, which too remains dismally low in comparison to both global trade as well as intra-regional trade in other regions of the world. When compared with other regional organisations like the European Union (EU), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), SAARC and the South Asia Free Trade Agreement  (SAFTA) have miles to go, despite their being not just the obvious answer to enhancing regional prosperity, but vital to it. Clearly, the opposition from certain lobbies within Pakistan, who wish to continue making the Kashmir issue a stumbling block to bilateral cooperation with India, is peddling a logical absurdity. The government has rightly ignored these lobbies in trying to move forward towards a constructive relationship with one of Pakistan’s immediate neighbours that is emerging as an economic giant with a huge potential market for Pakistani goods and services. It is unfortunate that when these lobbies find themselves left out in the political cold, they resort to souring the relationship via other means, and bringing to a screeching halt any meaningful progress in cooperation between India and Pakistan. The bilateral peace dialogue between India and Pakistan was suspended after the Mumbai attacks of 2008 when Pakistan-based terrorists brought carnage to India’s business and commercial capital, killing over two hundred people. It has taken close to three years for India’s anger and wounds to heal enough for it to restart a dialogue with Pakistan. More importantly, there is a realisation on the Indian side of terrorism being a common enemy and scourge that both countries need to fight together. This was borne out by SM Krishna’s statement with regard to the trust deficit between the two countries shrinking and a need for them to look at a ‘joint strategy’ to fight terror.

It is to be hoped that this year’s summit does indeed help in ‘building bridges’ between the SAARC countries. These bridges of physical connectivity, free trade and increased economic integration and interdependence have been long awaited by the peoples of the region, who want to live in peace and prosperity. It is time the governments rose to the occasion, setting aside their domestic political imperatives and moving forward in realising the dream of reviving the historical grand Silk Route. Given the fragile nature of the newfound positive direction of Indo-Pak relations, it is critical that India and Pakistan keep their eye on the ball to prevent this momentum from becoming another missed opportunity.