The 15th SAARC Summit

Ever since its inception in 1980, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a Bangladeshi initiative, has been in the process of making a contribution toward regional integration. The association was formally established on December 8, 1995 by seven founding members. Afghanistan joined the association as its eighth member at the 14 Summit held in April last. SAARC has a unique blend of national interests, religions (Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism), and ideologies. Yet the eight-member association has been striving to advance the cause of regional integration and progress in spite of inherent odds. SAARC wish to reach the level of other successful regional organisations. Emulating the examples of ASEAN or EU is a far cry and long way off.

The two-day 15th SAARC Summit was held at the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on August 2-3. In view of looming global economic meltdown, South Asia has been facing a grimmer picture. The 41-point Colombo Declaration titled Partnership for Growth of Our People called for collective efforts for energy security, climate change, and terrorism, facilitate trade, and increase economic growth as well as collective efforts for food security.

The focus on combating terrorism was so heavy in the deliberations at Colombo that other issues were overshadowed. Leaders no doubt identified terrorism as a stumbling block to peace and development in the region. Indian and Afghan-centric opinion on terrorism tried to portray Pakistan as a source of regional terrorism. The story, however, is the other way round. In subcontinent, terrorism, rather state-sponsored terrorism, was the direct consequence of the Indian government aggression being launched against the innocent people of Jammu and Kashmir.