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New Delhi:
Persisting ambiguity over the possibility of an Indo-Pak dialogue
taking place on the sidelines of next week’s SAARC summit in Bhutan,
has once again hijacked attention from broader and more complex
issues involving this nearly 25-year-old regional grouping.
Whether the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will meet his
Pakistani counterpart, Yousuf Raza Gilani? Whether it will be a
structured dialogue or a photo op?, Whether India is ready to resume
the stalled “composite dialogue” with Pakistan during the summit?
All of these speculations are doing the rounds.
Scant attention, however, is being paid to the SAARC agenda, which
does not mandate its members to raise or discuss bilateral issues.
But, paradoxically, bilateral issues have always dominated
multilateral agenda and the sixteenth SAARC Summit in Thimpu is not
expected to be any different from the past.
The “trust deficit” in the Indo-Pak relationship has time and again
eclipsed and cast a shadow on multilateral agenda of the SAARC. It
has remained a source of frustration for smaller nations like
Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan.
According to sources, three agreements, the Trade in Services in
SAFTA, Natural Disaster Response Mechanism and the Convention on
Cooperation on Environment have been finalized by the SAARC Expert
committee meeting, which took place in Thimpu in March.
But at the last minute, Pakistan vetoed the SAARC Natural Disaster
Response Mechanism that was intended to build a permanent team of
rescuers from all eight nations who could provide contingency rescue
services in the case of emergencies or natural catastrophes.
Islamabad has reportedly scuttled the mechanism because it is wary
of opening its borders to Indian rescue workers.
Analysts believe this move by Islamabad is not only
counter-productive for itself and India, but will also be a setback
to other smaller nations like Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
which are prone to marine disasters.
Located along the high seismic zone of the Himalayas, Afghanistan
and Nepal could have been major beneficiaries of the regional
mechanism.
Over the years, SAARC nations have been pushing for connectivity and
free transit. Talks of a visa free regime are also heard aloud at
the forum, but nothing has been translated into reality.
With countries like Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan landlocked,
overcoming high transaction costs due to poor trade facilitation
appears to be a priority for the regional grouping.
Pakistan has shown no cooperation in opening a transit route to
Afghanistan for Indian goods.
Similarly Bangladesh wants India to open up a transit route to Nepal
and Bhutan.
This can only happen if there is unanimity, especially among the
larger member nations like India and Pakistan.
The implementation of the SAFTA in real terms still seems a distant
dream. (ANI)
|
Pakistani
editor Rehana Hakim pessimistic about ensuing SAARC meet
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