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Singh-Gilani Meet :SAARC SUMMIT OVERSHADOWED, by Monish Tourangbam,4 May 2010 Print E-mail

Round The World

New Delhi, 4 May 2010 

Singh-Gilani Meet

SAARC SUMMIT OVERSHADOWED

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

 

After much media speculation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani did finally meet on the sidelines of the 16th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Thimpu, Bhutan. However, the kind of coverage accorded to the prospects of a resumption of dialogue between the two South Asian rivals again overshadowed the proceedings of the regional grouping, seen to be one of the less successful ones, compared to its peers in East Asia and South East Asia.

Indeed, it is impossible to ignore the importance that a healthy India-Pakistan relationship holds for the better functioning of this group, a point that has been raised time and again by leaders from other member-countries. This time as well, the Indian and the Pakistani premiers were under some sort of pressure from their counterparts to help break the deadlock in India-Pakistan relations, as meaningful talks stalled since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

In fact, many of the leaders from member countries felt that Pakistan should not procrastinate due legal proceedings against those accused for the terror attacks in Mumbai.  After 25 years of existence, the SAARC does not really have a concrete progress to flaunt, and much of the blame has gone to the impasse and rivalry between New Delhi and Islamabad. The salience and the motive of the regional grouping is much beyond India-Pakistan and only this realization could drive other vital issues forward in the region.

Other member countries were of the opinion that India and Pakistan should compartmentalize their problems, so that the much-needed attention could be given to issues of trade and regional connectivity. The region is home to one-fourth of the humanity and member countries such as the Maldives are destined to confront the ill-effects of climate change. Moreover, the prospects for intra-regional trade and other forms of connectivity is clearly underutilized and it is the only the ground materialization of policies and statements that will help the region combat these clear and present issues.

The thrust of the summit this time around was on climate change but sadly very little importance was given to the post-summit declarations and statements in the wake of the frenzy created around the Singh-Gilani meet. Many references were given to the importance of a thaw in India-Pakistan relations by other leaders during the summit. Obliquely referring to the centrality of the India-Pakistan relations on the region and SAARC as such, the Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley said, "every South Asian knows that a discordant family cannot be happy and that fractious and quarrelsome neighbours do not make a prosperous community.”

So apart from the realization of the Singh-Gilani meet, the other major outcome of the summit was the joint resolve shown by the leaders to combat climate change. They dwelled on the importance of presenting a joint platform and voice for the region at the Climate talks to be held in Cancun, Mexico late this year. More vulnerable member countries such as Bangladesh and Maldives have been reported to have put forward the importance of firmer commitments towards mitigating the effects of climate change, including on the touch issue of peaking of emissions, something that both India and China did not endorse at the Copenhagen Climate Change talks.

Pursuant to the SAARC Plan of Action on Climate Change, the members decided to establish an Inter-governmental Expert Group on Climate Change. Some other resolutions were agreed upon such as: to commission a study, for presentation to the 17th SAARC summit, on ‘Climate Risks in the Region; ways to comprehensively address the related social, economic and environmental issues’, to plant one crore trees over the next five years to build a “green and happy South Asia” and to enhance trade cooperation.

The essence of any regional organization is to work towards enhancing the concurrence of viewpoints and policies on matters that impact the region as a whole. The motive is to improve connectivity among the member-States so as to benefit from the experiences and abilities of each. And SAARC is no different. The yardstick of the success and efficacy of any regional group is its ability to structure a cohesive response to global issues and project a commonality of views at any global summit.

This is the very reason behind all the deliberation that occupied the SAARC leaders, trying their best to create a roadmap where the different member States at different stages of economic development and struggling with different levels of climate change impact can travel together. In this discourse, a lot will be expected from India as it occupies a pivotal position at the global stage on climate change talks. As such, New Delhi has to walk a tight rope, as it needs to balance the demands of its economic progress as well as the recognition of impending dangers faced by other more vulnerable SAARC States.

Another issue discussed upon during the summit has become a sort of a permanent item on the menu of every global, regional and bilateral meet: namely terrorism. It assumes significant centre-stage for the region. While terrorism is clearly a menace to progress and development in the region, two member-countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan are being seen as the epicenters of international terrorism.

The Taliban is clearly bleeding Afghanistan to its very core forcing the world community to actually endorse the deal to rope in what is called “Good Taliban”. Pakistan is being haunted by rampant terror strikes in its own soil by the sections of the same elements that help create in the first place (a clear case of “Frankenstein’s monster”). The anti-India networks based in Pakistan have dealt a huge blow to human lives and security in the Indian mainland, the most tragic being 26/11 that has deadlocked any meaningful dialogue between the two nations.  

During the summit, the leaders took the platform to condone terrorism in all its facets, with the Afghan President strongly supporting the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism. When it comes to terrorism, every leader in the world, every single grouping in the globe mange to sound alike: rejecting terrorism in all its avatars. But to defeat this scourge on humanity, what one needs is not rhetoric and flowery statements but a no-nonsense agenda minus any ambiguous stand on terrorism or whatever face it projects.

Increased realization of the salience of trade connectivity, economic development, people-to-people contact and a common disdain for any activity that hampers the growth of the 1.5 billion people in this region can go a long way in fighting self-centered groups out to defeat the very essence of human civilization and growth. All eyes would be on SAARC Home Ministers meeting in Islamabad later this June to strengthen cooperation to combat terrorism and extremism.

Despite the fact that it snatched the media spotlight from the summit, the Singh-Gilani meet could be seen to have set a good precedent. The summit served as a platform for the two leaders to break ice and if this leads to increased diplomatic channeling and reciprocal measures to clear misunderstandings and suspicions, the SAARC summit should deserve the accolades.--INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

 

 

 

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