Assessment of the Eleventh SAARC Summit Declaration: Need for Effective Implementation

Prof. Mohan P. Lohani
April 1, 2003

The Eleventh SAARC Summit which was to have been hosted by Nepal in November 1999 had been postponed indefinitely at the request of a member state because of political developments in Pakistan. The postponement led some habitual cynics to forecast a bleak future for regional cooperation in South Asia. Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, currently the Minister of Planning in the Maldives and the former SAARC Secretary- General, expressed the dismay and unhappiness of the smaller member States of the Association and categorically observed:' the suspension of the SAARC process is really a great loss to the smaller States of South Asia…If SAARC has been dispatched to wilderness, the process that began at Dhaka has drifted into darkness'. Aware of such criticism and disappointment even among the member states the Heads of State or Government, who met at the Eleventh SAARC Summit meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 4 to 6 January this year, had not only reaffirmed their commitment to regional cooperation through SAARC but had also underscored the importance of annual Summit meetings in charting common strategies for the realization of the objectives and principles set out in the Charter of the Association. As we all know, Pakistan is hosting the Twelfth SAARC Summit early next year the dates for which have already been announced, but the Summit has been postponed indefinitely because some member states have found it difficult to approve the dates on the ground that little progress has been made on the economic front, particularly in finalizing the framework agreement on the Treaty for SAFTA.

The indefinite postponement has ominous implications once again for the ongoing SAARC process. It is incumbent upon other member states of the Association to continue building pressure and see to it that the future of SAARC is not sacrificed at the altar of prolonged rivalry between the two influential SAARC member states. Nepal in its capacity as the current SAARC chairperson has expressed the hope that the dates for the 12th SAARC Summit will be rescheduled as early as possible.

The Eleventh SAARC Summit Declaration, unlike the Declarations of the previous Summits, is a relatively short but comprehensive and compact document consisting of 56 paragraphs dealing with wide-ranging issues such as regional economic cooperation, cooperation in the social and cultural sector, poverty alleviation, education, environment, international political and economic environment, terrorism, promotion of mutual trust and understanding through political cooperation, people -to-people contact and issues relating to further strengthening of SAARC institutions and rationalization of its meetings. A careful reading of the Declaration leaves no one in doubt that the South Asian leaders are greatly concerned and keen to 'strengthen the Association and make it more cohesive, result-oriented and forward looking, by adopting clearly defined programs and effective implementation strategies in line with popular expectations. The need for clarity in formulating programs and working out strategies for effective and expeditious implementation of clearly defined programs is obviously in response to oft-repeated criticism that there is lack of focus, clarity and specificity in terms of target groups in programs and activities hitherto undertaken within the SAARC framework.

It is hoped that all regional cooperation - related programs endorsed and adopted by the SAARC Summit will henceforward be more focused, specific and purposeful than declarations of intent of a generalized and pious nature. In view of rising expectations of people in the region, they (the people) appear to be less interested in rhetorical bombast or grandiose utterances and would like to see tangible results leading to an improvement in their living conditions. The challenge before the Twelfth SAARC Summit being held in Islamabad next month is to critically review and provide the needed impetus for the effective implementation of decisions and programs of action approved during the previous summits .The Eleventh Summit had agreed on the Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution and Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South Asia. The Ministerial meeting held in August this year had recognized the need for speedy implementation of these important decisions. Likewise, considerable progress has yet to be achieved in the removal of trade barriers under the arrangements for preferential treatment (SAPTA) before the region moves with confidence and commitment into a free trade area (SAFTA). SAFTA, according to Prof. Gunanidhi Sharma, may be the best mechanism for reversing Nepal's negative terms of trade vis-ŕ-vis India and also reducing the country's dependence on India.4 What is important is that there should be no further delay in finalizing the framework agreement relating to SAFTA Treaty.

The seven SARRC nations which share a common geography, a common eco- system and, except for the Himalayan countries of Bhutan and Nepal, a common history of colonial rule, account for over one-fifth of the world's population.5 It is estimated that more than half of over one billion people in the region live in abject poverty and, despite progress made in achieving an average growth rate of 3 to 4 per cent over the past ten years, the magnitude of poverty remains unacceptably high. Widespread poverty, as the Declaration points out, continues to be' the most formidable developmental challenge for the region'. It is too much to expect governments alone to overcome this challenge. Needless to point out, poverty alleviation, since it requires urgent attention and topmost priority, calls for concerted and well-coordinated efforts and partnership among governments, international agencies, the private sector and the civil society. It is being increasingly realized that building organizations of the poor at the grassroots level is an essential prerequisite for poverty alleviation. While the emphasis is on enablement of the poor through their organizational efforts, such organizations, says Maskey, cannot take place under conventional types of management or governance of public affairs.6 Pro-poor growth strategies which encourage the poor to participate in the development process not as objects but as subjects have been strongly recommended by experts over the years. Madhukar SJB Rana, who represented Nepal as a member on the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation, writes in a recent article that the poor too can contribute to economic growth if the state socially mobilizes them at the grassroots of development and democracy. Given Nepal's insurgency, he argues, it is essential to eradicate absolute poverty completely by 2015 and not just to halve it as outlined in the Third Brussels Declaration on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) adopted in 2001. 7

It is encouraging that the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation, with Nepal as its Convenor and Bangladesh as co-Convenor, has been reconstituted for reviewing the progress made in cooperation on poverty alleviation and for suggesting concrete and effective measures. What is further encouraging is that a Special Session on Poverty Alleviation at the Ministerial level as per the recommendation of the Eleventh Summit was held in Pakistan in April this year. The Ministerial Meeting forcefully called upon the member states, as was done at the Eleventh SAARC Summit, to integrate poverty alleviation programs into their respective development strategies. It is, indeed, encouraging that poverty alleviation has received topmost priority in the periodic as well as annual national plans and development strategies of each member state. The special session, furthermore, undertook a comprehensive review and evaluation of the status of implementation of poverty eradication policies and programs carried out so far by each member state at the regional, and particularly at the national, level. The urgency of fully activating the existing three-tier monitoring mechanism for poverty alleviation, particularly the sharing of experience in this area among member states, has also been underscored. Besides, the SAARC ministers have been called upon to review, on a continuous basis, the regional poverty profile to be prepared by the SAARC Secretary General with the assistance of the related UN agencies, nodal agencies and independent research institutions specialized in the field. These are important decisions reflecting the political will of the South Asian leaders to combat the problem of poverty in the region with a new sense of urgency. Right decisions are bound to produce positive and far-reaching results if they are effectively implemented. Poverty, as stated earlier, is a grim reality in South Asia and has to be squarely faced through massive investment in poverty alleviation programs that would 'ensure social stability and promote economic progress and overall prosperity', as stated in the Declaration.

Since most of the poor in the region are also illiterate, there is a close nexus between poverty alleviation and education. The need to create gainful employment by promoting cooperation in vocational training has been felt and stressed by the Summit leaders. They have recognized that access to quality education is a crucial factor for the empowerment of all segments of society including women and other disadvantaged groups. This goal can be realized by adopting, as has been emphasized in the Declaration, 'a common regional educational standard through uniform methods of instruction and teaching aids'. The growing gap in the region in terms of the quality of teaching and student performance between a large number of public schools and a few private boarding schools that are expensive with elitist orientation needs to be bridged to avoid educated unemployment and the resultant social tension arising from disparity in educational standards. Education, in brief, is as important deserving priority attention as poverty alleviation in the social sector.

Apart from poverty and other concomitant ills plaguing South Asia, terrorism continues to pose a grave threat to regional peace, stability and development. The South Asian leaders recognized the seriousness of the problem of terrorism way back in 1987 when they adopted at the Third SAARC Summit a Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism to tackle this problem. The Convention, even after 15 years of its adoption, has not been effectively enforced owing to lack of enabling legislation in most member states of the region, despite the fact that most of them have been hit hard by insurgency and terrorist violence. The SARRC leaders, while reaffirming their commitment to a collective fight against terrorism and the full implementation of the 1987 Convention at the Eleventh Summit, have reiterated their firm resolve to speed up the enactment of enabling legislation within a definite time-frame. This is a positive decision. No less positive was a recognition by the SAARC Council of Ministers, at its Twenty Third Session held in Kathmandu last August, of the need to update the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism on account of the obligations devolving on member states in terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism. The enactment of enabling legislation should and can longer be delayed, as it is clearly stipulated in the Convention that each contracting state may take appropriate measures for purposes of extradition or prosecution provided they are consistent with its national laws. Given this reality, the Convention remains ineffective so long as national laws of each contracting state are not harmonized or made compatible with the relevant provisions of the Regional Convention.8

Terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, as the Declaration emphatically states is not only a challenge to South Asian nations but also to mankind as a whole. As such, it cannot be condoned and justified on ideological, political, religious or any other ground. Terrorists, as we all know, resort to acts of intimidation and violence including the killing of innocent citizens, kidnapping and assassination of prominent politicians and other public figures, bomb blasts and bank robbery as well as extortion, sabotage and subversion as the best means to achieve their ends.9 The United Nations in its Resolution1373 of the Security Council has already called for and approved a global coalition against terrorism which is certainly a crime against humanity and the civilized world. Supporting this UN initiative the South Asian leaders have reaffirmed that the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations has to be comprehensive and sustained. This is South Asian response to a problem of global concern and dimension. It is, indeed, distressing to note that with the dawn of the new century international terrorism has assumed menacing proportions. Terrorist attacks in the United States last year on September 11 followed by an unprecedented attack on Indian Parliament on December 13 shocked the international community and evoked worldwide condemnation in strong terms. Nepal, a victim of terrorist violence within its own territory for more than six years, has condemned the terrorist attacks in the US and on Indian Parliament. HM King Gyanendra expressed his shock and, in his message to the Indian President last year, stated: 'Nepal strongly condemns such heinous crimes and believes that all countries must work together in combating and eliminating terrorism from the world'.

It is widely believed and objectively confirmed that terrorist groups equipped with highly sophisticated weapons, wealth and training facilities in developed cities or urban centers operate in a more organized way with a network of international connections. Terrorists, be they Maoist insurgents of Nepal, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka or Muslim separatists in Kashmir, are reported to have links with similar groups across the border or elsewhere in other parts of the globe. The Maoist insurgents, in defiance of the country's Constitution, launched the so-called people's war more than six years ago and have resorted, during this period, to senseless killing , kidnapping, intimidation, extortion of money and other acts of terror such as attacks on and shutdown of educational institutions to achieve their objective. They agreed to hold talks with the government last year, giving rise to hopes for a peaceful settlement and reconciliation. As the country looked forward to the fourth round of talks leading hopefully to a political breakthrough, the Maoists shocked the entire nation by brutally attacking and killing the police and army men, thus forcing the government to declare a state of emergency, dub the Maoists terrorists and repel their attacks and insurgency in several parts of the country. The present government headed by Prime Minister Lokendra B. Chand has expressed its readiness again to resolve the six-year old insurgency through talks, welcomed the initiative of human rights activists and civil society organizations and is planning to set up a cell for negotiations with the Maoist insurgents. Developmental infrastructures such as roads, bridges, power houses and factories for production of essential goods and services have been destroyed by the insurgents and developmental activities have been retarded due to widespread insecurity. People have become sick of continuing bloodshed and violence The country is desperately seeking to replace the cult of violence with a culture of peace, which is in conformity with spiritual and religious values enshrined in the ancient holy scriptures (the Vedas) and noble teachings of Lord Buddha. Close neighbours and other friends of Nepal have expressed goodwill, sympathy and solidarity and extended full cooperation in this country's fight against terrorism.

It is generally admitted that regional cooperation in South Asia cannot make progress in achieving the objectives enshrined in its Charter unless serious efforts are made to promote mutual trust and understanding between and among member states through such measures as fostering good neighborly relations, relieving tensions and building confidence.10 To this end, a process of informal consultations was considered useful and recommended, for the first time, in the Ninth Summit Declaration. The usefulness of this process has been reiterated by the leaders in the Tenth and Eleventh Declarations as well. Efforts to operationalize the process need to be intensified, as there is a clear recognition that this process would not only contribute to the appreciation of each other's problems and perceptions but also to promoting mutual understanding and reinforcing the confidence building process among the member states.

Ever since the partition of India in 1947 which brought Pakistan into existence as an independent country, India and Pakistan have been locked in sub-continental rivalry and, during the last 55 years, they have already fought three wars, two alone over Kashmir. Kashmir remains, without doubt, a festering sore and a stumbling block to good neighborly relations between the two major countries of South Asia. While India accuses Pakistan of organizing, instigating and encouraging terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley, Pakistan denies the allegation but admits that it has lent, and will continue to do so, moral and political support to the militants in Kashmir. While the willingness of both countries to withdraw troops from the Line of Control (LOC) has been welcomed as a right step in easing tensions, conflicting claims by each side regarding the final status of Kashmir, rising religious fundamentalism, cross-border ethnic clashes and terrorist violence as well as continued military confrontation, as both happen to be nuclear powers in the region, have not only embittered bilateral relations but have also threatened to becloud the prospects of peace, cooperation and stability in the region.11

Since the SAARC Charter excludes contentious bilateral issues from all formal meetings and deliberations, the process of informal political consultations assumes greater significance as a viable strategy for confidence building and conflict resolution. Such a process would be equally helpful in identifying the elements of comprehensive security for South Asia as these elements are inherent in common threats, problems and challenges confronting the region in social, economic, political and environmental sectors. The common threats, as Lok Raj Baral points out, include ethnic crisis, national and transnational terrorism, religious fundamentalism, atmospheric pollution, population, poverty, trans-border migration and redefinition of state sovereignty in accordance with the burgeoning trend of supra-nationalism. 12 Such common threats including sub-nationalism that generates tensions at the socio-cultural level must figure on the SARRC agenda for discussion and resolution. Some member states have expressed the view that the credibility of a SAARC Summit conference is at stake as its deliberations lack substance. There is no dearth of ideas in the region to reinvigorate the SAARC process, but the dichotomy between rhetoric and substance, profession and practice or intention and achievement needs to be resolved through concerted efforts at all stages from policy decisions and strategic planning to implementation with concrete and positive results.

Despite criticism and misgivings, setbacks and reverses from time to time, SAARC has come to stay and is in the process of institutionalizing itself as a viable forum for discussing complex regional issues in their entirety and seeking solutions to such issues through political will, collective efforts and a consensual approach involving all actors at the level of government representatives, NGOs, the private sector and the civil society. People to people contact, as the Declaration emphasizes, must be encouraged by all means. As political commitment of the South Asian leaders to SAARC and its objectives is firm and irrevocable, and as the leaders have expressed their resolve in the latest Declaration to give practical shape to the shared aspirations for a more prosperous South Asia, there is every reason to hope and believe that the vision of a phased and planned process eventually leading to a South Asian Economic Forum as envisaged in the Report prepared by a Group of Eminent Persons (GEP) can become a reality in the years to come.