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In general, the SAARC and its course of development has to be reviewed and appraisedin the context of the world wide resurgence of regional cooperative movements thatconstitute a major response to the challenges of globalisation. In fact, the post cold warworld has been witnessing the advent, refashioning and resurgence of multiple kinds ofregional organisations in the developed as well as developing countries. The EuropeanUnion (EU), North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Asia Pacific EconomicCommunity (APEC) offer perhaps the most obvious examples of this process. Thesecooperative ventures are also being built around dominant regional powers. For instance,

Nigeria and South Africa are the sheet anchors of organisations such as the EconomicCommunity of West African States (ECOWAS) or Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) respectively.

Plausibly, the entire project of SAARC is dependent on Indias capacity to bind theneighbouring states in multiple networks of ties to promote regional cooperation becauseIndia shares frontiers with all the SAARC countries. It also has commonalities in ethnic,linguistic, cultural and religious terms with all its neighbours. Being the most powerfuland virtually the core state within SAARC, India has the greater responsibility tovisualise and build, along with its neighbours, south Asia as a regional entity. By taking alead in persuading other SAARC members to think about south Asia as a viable unit

India can promote projects of development cooperation that can bring about regionalharmony. And yet, if the problems pertaining to security and democracy are notaddressed India will not be able to play the role of a catalyst stimulating cooperativemovements.

Spill-Over Effects of Crisis in Nepal

Indias dilemmas in the region may be highlighted with a few evocative illustrations fromNepal, which, at this juncture, seems to have captured the centre stage of Indias concernsin south Asia. Internally, the Maoists are challenging the political system of Nepal.

Owing to its acute social problems including abject poverty, inequalities generated by thecaste ridden social structures and gross asymmetry in income distribution, Maoism hasover the decades gradually begun to appeal to sections of the Nepalese population whowere disgruntled with the existing political system. The Maoist group captured nine seatsin the parliament of Nepal in 1996. Frustrated by the slow pace of change within theconstitutional framework the Maoists chose to carry on the fight against the existingsystem with the idea of overthrowing it through the armed struggle. By now the Maoistrebels underground. They have not merely established control over 40 per cent of theterritory of Nepal but gathered active support of over 2-3,000 armed prachanda orfierce fighters along with a militia of over 15,000 men. Over the years, they have createdsound linkages with the other extremist groupings across the borders including those in

the Terai region of Nepal that border India, the Maoists/ Naxalites of Bihar and AndhraPradesh and the north-eastern insurgents in India. In the nine years of insurgency inNepal, the Maoists have continuously widened their base of operations by providingsmuggled arms to the ever-expanding number of recruits. The resulting deteriorating stateof law and governance in Nepal has already claimed thousands of lives. The Deubaregime allegedly failed to tackle the Maoist rebels and improve the law and ordersituation, which, in turn, gave king Gyanendra a pretext to take over the reigns ofadministration in Nepal.

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The developments in Nepal cannot be viewed in an isolated manner because thecountrys strategic location has high value for major powers. Any power able to stationspace linked surveillance, intelligence and navigation systems on the high mountains ofNepal can gain geo-strategic leverage in several Asian regions from central to south eastAsia. Since Nepal borders China and India, the dominant forces in Nepal can provecrucial to either of these powers. Besides, the Nepalese frontier is only 185 miles awayfrom New Delhi. That is why, stability and friendship with Nepal is essential for India to

strengthen its security.

Since the Indian government has supported the Nepalese regimes with arms to handle theMaoist rebels, the latter are likely to seek support from China while in opposition or inpower. Moreover if Nepal slides towards China and India fails to control the northeastern insurgencies, external powers like China and Myanmar are likely to play a moresignificant role in Nepal, Bangladesh and north eastern affairs. Moreover, Nepal hasalready become one of the priority centres of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) ofPakistan, which is headed by a Brigadier. The links between the ISI, terrorist Islamicoutfits in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan continue to be a constant source ofsecurity threat, especially after the Pakistani-sponsored terrorists hijack of the Indian

Airlines plane flying between Kathmandu and Kandahar in December 1999. The ISI-sponsored terrorist centres in Bangladesh are, in their turn, linked with multinationalterrorist outfits such as Al Qaeda. Similarly, till 2003, the rebels of the United LiberationFront of Assam (ULFA) enjoyed support from Bhutan. At one stage the ISI and Harkat-Ul-Mujahideen, a terrorist outfit of Pakistan, were actively supporting the ULFA throughfunds as well as by imparting training in six districts of Assam. Out of these districts ofKokrajhar, Goalpara, Darrang and Nalbari share borders with Bhutan.

Vitiating Security Environment

Apart from vitiating the security environment through their subversive military relatedthreats the terrorist outfits are linked to the underworld as well. In fact, south Asiaslocation between the two largest areas of illicit opium production, namely GoldenCrescent, comprising north western countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan and GoldenTriangle consisting countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east pose problemsto health security. At this juncture opium, heroin and hashish are exported across theborders as well as via the sea-lanes to Sri Lanka and Maldives. India itself cultivatesopium poppy illicitly of over 1200 to1500 tons annually.

Besides Nepal the threat of terrorism has and is likely to pose challenges to developmentcooperation from two other major countries namely, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Since the

1990s Pakistan-sponsored cross border terrorism has played havoc in the states of Jammuand Kashmir. Through the bomb blasts in different parts of India including major citieslike Mumbai and Kolkota as also the abortive attempt to explode the Indian parliament onDecember 13, 2001 the militant Islamic outfits were able to unleash a reign of fear in theIndian psyche [Harshe 2003]. However, with the ongoing Indo-Pakistan talks to promotepeace and President Musharrafs assurance that Pakistan will prevent any terroristoperations from its soil has, at least, brought a momentary semblance of peace in the sub-continent. However, it is going to be difficult for any regime to dismantle well-

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entrenched terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan. Likewise, in spite of the three-year-oldOslo-initiated reconciliatory process between the Sri Lankan government and LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), peace seems to elude Sri Lanka. After the ceasefire, thegovernment virtually granted de facto control to the LTTE over the areas in thenortheastern parts. Apparently the government aimed at devolution of powers within thefederal framework but such devolution has added to the new resolve of LTTE to press forindependent eelam especially after the devastating impact of tsunami in northeastern SriLanka. The LTTE wants to monopolise post tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction

work in the northeast. This has held up the formation of joint mechanisms comprising thegovernment and the LTTE to disburse funds in the tsunami-affected areas. If the thirdparty mediation from Norway is able to activate the stalemated peace process in SriLanka the possibility of war could be averted in the island.

The presence of terror and terrorist outfits is pervasive in the entire south Asian regionand without evolving collective mechanisms to combat terrorism it will not be easy tocontain the spectre of terror as whole in the region. It also needs to be noted that thepromotion of constitutional and democratic processes and the formation ofdemocratically-elected regimes indeed carry the inner strength to usher in dialogicprocesses. Such processes can bring all the major parties, including the representatives of

terrorist outfits, to the negotiating table to hammer out differences and search forsolutions to controversial issues. By promoting dialogic processes within and between thestates and civil societies within the SAARC countries it may be feasible to mitigate theimpact of terrorism. Relying on merely coercive methods can hardly contain terroristactivities. For, any coercive measures aimed at brutally suppressing the terrorist groupstend to invariably trigger retaliatory measures from the latter leading to the loss of livesof innocent civilians. Among the SAARC countries domestic regimes of Pakistan andNepal are deviating from the basic democratic norms that could cause serious concernswhile building the SAARC as a regional organisation. In the ultimate analysis, smoothfunctioning and strengthening of SAARC is certainly dependent on the bourgeoningnetwork of economic and commercial ties among SAARC member states. Countries like

India and Pakistan need to come together to form the basis for weaving region-widenetworks of such ties.

Indo-Pak Cooperation

Indeed, the strain between India and Pakistan may be mitigated if both the countriesconcentrate on the economic dimensions of their ties. However, there is no directcorrelation between strained relationship and trade ties. For instance, under General Ziasmilitary dictatorship Indo-Pakistan trade received an impetus when Pakistan raised the

quota of permitted tradable Indian goods from 42 to 249 in 1987. The trade between thetwo countries peaked to US $ 354 million as they went through nuclear tests in 1998. In2001, under the Musharraf regime, Indian exports to Pakistan were the highest ever i.e.US $ 219 million. [Quoted in Taneja 2004: 326]. Furthermore, the informal cross bordertrade as also the trade carried through places like Dubai, Afghanistan and countries ofCommonwealth of Independent States (CIS) between the two countries is roughly worthU.S. $2 billion. (Ibid)

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There is also a dire need to explore trade potentials between India and Pakistan. Certainunfavourable factors such as the lack of mutual confidence as well as information, mutualapprehensions and at times misinformation have obstructed the course of building smoothtrade ties. Moreover, India has accorded the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status toPakistan, as a trading partner, while Pakistan has not reciprocated with the same facilityto India. India is in a position to export diverse kinds of items including iron ore, steel,transport equipments like scooters, motor cycles and passenger cars, plastics, textiles,drugs, pharmaceuticals and a number of agricultural products to Pakistan. In its turn,

Pakistan can export fruits, nuts, spices, pulses and metal scraps to India. India is the moresound and powerful of the two economies and hence Pakistan is apprehensive of Indiangoods invading the Pakistani market. Since India has already opted to offer favourabletrade terms to the goods from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh it can conceive of applying theGujral Doctrine of non-reciprocity in its trade relations with Pakistan to counter suchapprehensions1 [Harshe 1999].

India is a Nation of young people out of a population of above 1.2 billion, 0.672 billionpeople are in the age-group of 15-64 years, which is usually treated as the working agepopulation. This large population should be considered as an invariable humanresource and they should be provided the necessary skills so as to empower them to

lead a purposeful life and contribute to our national economy, which is possible onlythrough quality education.The Central Government continues to play a leading role in the formulation andimplementation of educational policies and programmes, the most notable of which isthe National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986, as modified in 1992. The modified policyenvisages, inter-alia, a National System of Education to bring about uniformity ineducation, making adult education programmes a mass movement, providing universalaccess, ensuring retention and improving quality in elementary education, specialemphasis on education of girls, establishment of pace-setting schools like NavodayaVidyalayas in each district, vocationalisation of secondary education, synthesis ofknowledge and inter-disciplinary research in higher education, starting more Open

Universities in the States, strengthening of the All India Council for Technical Education,encouraging sports, physical education, Yoga and adoption of an effective evaluationmethod, etc.Healthy trade and development related ties between India and Pakistan would have spillover effect in stimulating the trade ties in the entire south Asian region. The South AsianFree Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement signed in 12 th Islamabad summit of the SAARC ofJanuary 2004 will come into effect in January 2006. The agreement will, hopefully,enhance the prospects of intra-regional trade. In fact, the trade between India and theSAARC countries in the post liberalisation phase has been posting a growth rate of 19.99per cent as compared with world trade that has grown by 18.7 per cent. According to atrade forecast by Assocham the trade between India and the SAARC countries is likely to

grow five-fold and touch the figure of Rs 100 crore by 2013.(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/business February 20, 2005). Only a sound basisof trade and commercial ties will permit SAARC countries to execute a broaderdevelopmental agenda. Such an agenda should involve a projects against illiteracy,unemployment, poverty, environmental degradation, practices of child labour, trade indrugs and small arms as well as cross border terrorism, AIDS and diverse forms of socialdiscrimination. SAARC can become truly functional if the two powerful nuclear states

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choose to function as major partners in promoting the regional trading and othercooperative ventures in the context of the south Asian region.

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