India and Pakistan are creating problems not just for them, but for the region too
The18th SAARC conference which concluded on Wednesday was the second gathering after 2002 where India and Pakistan were not on speaking terms. This was bound to cause worry to the participants as the differences between the two largest countries have stood in the way of the SAARC realising its potential. One of the indicators of slow progress is the intra-regional trade which is only 6.6 per cent of the total world trade volume despite the SAARC countries housing 23.4 per cent of world population.
On Tuesday, Nawaz Sharif put the ball in India’s court maintaining that since New Delhi had called off talks, it had to take the initiative to start them. An Indian spokesman maintained on the other hand that talks could be held only if they were meaningful. Last minute differences between the two stood in the way of the ratification of a number of agreements in the ministerial meeting. During the summit the two leaders sat two seats away from one another but each decided not to take notice of the other. That this should happen is ironic when Narendra Modi, with his focus on economic growth, was keen to strengthen SAARC’s economic integration and Nawaz Sharif, being a strong proponent of peace with India, wanted enhanced trade between the neighbouring countries. At the summit the two stood poles apart. While Modi talked at length about Mumbai killings, there was no reference to terrorism in Sharif’s speech. Tensions between the two biggest SAARC member countries continued to overshadow the summit. Regional integration which was the principle theme took a back seat.
Nepalese officials tried hard to break the logjam between the two member states. They hoped that a pull-aside would probably occur during the leaders’ retreat on Thursday at the Dwarika Resort outside Kathmandu. This too failed to happen. While the two met other SAARC leaders individually, they maintained distance between each other. SAARC cannot realise its potential as long as India and Pakistan retain an adversarial relationship.