The South Asian subcontinent, following an ice-age which had largely frozen its development and collaboration since independence more than 50 years ago, may have embarked on a new age of integration and promise in the aftermath of the January regional summit in Islamabad that found leaders ready to try to put the past aside in favour future union.

The two-day summit was highlighted by India-Pakistani encounters which put in place plans for a comprehensive dialogue to resolve “all outstanding issues” including the Kashmir conflict which has led to two major wars and constant conflict and hostility. Following that agreement, the entire group also approved plans for a South Asia Free Trade Association (SAFTA) and a SAARC Social Charter than placed poverty reduction as the key goal of the regional activities.

Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee meeting Pakistan's President Musharraf in Islamabad

The agreements, although still be fulfilled, some remaining sceptics underline, was all the more impressive because just a few weeks earlier various experts at a seminar in Islamabad were referring to SAARC as either “still-born,” “moribund,” “dying,” “deceased,” or similar terms awaiting a proper “burial” or “cremation.”

Barely a month later, the leaders of India, Pakistan and all the countries of the region were voicing their optimism and commitment to cooperation and attacking many of the problems and obstacles which had bedevilled them and their predecessors for decades. A continent away, in Brussels, the ambassadors of the region’s countries were also displaying unaccustomed unity at a briefing organised by the European Institute for Asian Studies on January 22.

The shift in directions from one month to another was stark and apparently profound. At the Islamabad meeting organised by the Foundation for Research on International Environment National Development and Security (FRIENDS) and the German Hans Seidel Stiftung in December, one Pakistani participant described Indian policy as dominated by “macho nationalism,” that had dominated and stifled cooperation in the region for decades. Indian and other participants also decried the decline of South Asian cooperation and prosperity since independence, but in varying terms. An Indian remarked that “India is prepared to do a lot for regional cooperation, but not necessarily through SAARC,” and noted numerous bilateral agreements in the works with ASEAN, China and individual SAARC members, implying that Pakistani political policies were as much to blame for the stalemate in SAARC. Another South Asian scholar remarked that South Asian “internal contradictions such as Islam and secularism, not ideology, had been turned into antagonistic instruments” inside SAARC. It was also underlined that “the region remains highly volatile, missed opportunities and remains susceptible to individual countries taking their own initiatives.”

But SAARC ambassadors to the EU in Brussels, led by the Pakistani envoy, each underlined the dramatic breakthroughs for SAARC, made possible by the Indo-Pakistani rapprochement.

They included:

• Signature of the Framework agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area under which trade tariffs would be reduced by the beginning of 2006,
• Signing of the 10-point SAARC Social Charter embarking on individual and joint legislation and programmes in education, health, human resource development, poverty alleviation, gender issues, youth, population, drugs and minority and migrant concerns,
• Recognition that poverty alleviation was the greatest challenge and overarching goal of all SAARC activities and must addressed in a holistic fashion,
• A study of South Asian energy cooperation,
• The commitment to a South Asian Economic Union,
• The importance of people-to-people contacts to be encouraged by strengthening transport, communications and transit links,
• Discussion of a possible South Asian Development Bank,
• A regional year of awareness in 2004 on AIDS, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases,
• Technical and scientific cooperation,
• Cooperation in conservation of water resources, dealing with natural calamities and implementation of a SAARC environmental action plan,
• A commitment to further combating terrorism,
• A declaration of peace an d stability in region, where conflicts, differences and disputes are settled through peaceful means and dialogue.

While sceptics noted that most of the ideas in the SAARC declaration had been under discussion for some time and were largely statements of good intention, Pakistani Ambassador Tariq Fatemi, acknowledged the “need to change the organisation into a more vibrant and result-oriented body.” He also pointed to new meetings planned or held on specific points, including the Pakistani-Indian dialogue on Kashmir, and new ideas for the future being proposed. But a number of his regional colleagues emphasised the change in attitudes and policies illustrated in the Summit pledges. Indian Ambassador P.K. Singh added that a major difference from the past was what he termed a “groundswell” of public opinion which had driven this improvement in relations. While he acknowledged that it was “a pity we are starting so late,” he also noted that “before the ink is dry” on the SAARC accord and plans, civil society and other circles were implementing them and proposing more advances.

Ambassador C.R. Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka also stressed the widespread “feeling of being left out” of productive regional cooperation and integration process undertaken by other regions, which leaders in South Asia had “ignored for too long.” The ambassador from Bangladesh, Maudud Ali, underlined that SAARC contained “one people in seven countries,” but that the undertaking to date had been unable to tap the potential of the region, largely because of excessive, and perhaps unnecessary spending on defence. The result had been that previous SAARC meetings had been essentially protocol gatherings that one-third of the 1.5 billion population had remained mired in extreme poverty. The EU Ambassador from Nepal, Narayan S. Thapa, also expressed his expectation that the SAARC secretariat in Kathmandu, which was already said to be overstretched before the extensive new undertakings, would have to be expanded and that the EU and EU members had already inquired how they could assist in this new process.

Nevertheless, the SAARC Member ambassadors to the EU indicated that they could visualise considerably more regional cooperation than in the past for joint positions in relation to their dealings with the EU. They said they shared many viewpoints and objections to EU trade policies toward developing countries.

Underlining the quickening pace of events and activities in the region, the Asian Development Bank organised a second gathering of the South Asian Business Forum and the Trade, Investment and Private Sector Working Group for the region in Dhaka from January 20-24.