SOUTH ASIA: Ritual Summit Tries To Steer Away From Politics

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jul 30 1998 (IPS) - Officially, the urgent need to liberalise trade relations among South Asian countries is foremost on the agenda of the ritual annual meeting of leaders of the region’s seven nations, in progress in the Sri Lankan capital.

But politics has willy-nilly become the thorny central issue at the three-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) with strident calls on the opening day by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On Wednesday, Sharif said the regional group should discuss bilateral problems that were impeding its formation as a regional power bloc. The fact that it “excludes the discussion of political problems” is one of the reasons for SAARC’s failure, he said.

SAARC groups India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, and was set up in 1985 to primarily improve the quality of life of one of the most impoverished regions in the world.

But the fear of domination among members of the group has frustrated regional cooperation efforts and the annual summits have become mere talking shops for leaders, since the SAARC charter does not permit discussion on bilateral issues.

The Colombo meeting is being held against the backdrop of rival nuclear tests by India and Pakistan in May which has also changed the security situation in the region.

It is the first time that the prime ministers of India and Pakistan are meeting after the nuclearisation of the region, which the Pakistani premier said “left to itself Pakistan would never have embarked on this perilous course”.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who sought to reassure SAARC partners that India poses no threat, was firm that the regional grouping should stick to tradition and steer clear of “contentious issues” that would only diviport of SAARC by a group of “eminent persons” has concluded that the grouping is on the road to nowhere. The 2001 target date for SAPTA was unrealistic, it has concluded.

Sri Lankan officials say privately that the review, which has not been made public, has drawn up a new road map for future cooperative development for South Asia.

Apart from regional economic cooperation, the summit has discussed the need for member countries to cooperate in raising

the status of women in the region.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the new chairman of SAARC, said that women required special consideration since they account for half of the region’s population and constitute one of the most disadvantaged group in South Asia. They lack equal opportunities for economic social and intellectual development.

She called for radical measures to deal with the cumulative burden of discriminatory societal perceptions and conditions that have thwarted the full potential of women.

“We need to condemn, very strongly, violence against women and acts of prejudice that have humiliated women, over the years,” the Sri Lankan leader said.