Future of SAARC?
05 October 2016Sri Lanka's decision to bandwagon with India in boycotting South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) last week has infuriated many individuals, parties and organizations both locally and internationally.
It is obvious that the decision to support India in the SAARC boycott didn't come as a surprise, but as a deliberate move to show good faith to the country. That much was obvious. India is one ally Sri Lanka Government does not intend to lose ever. Losing India as an ally would have severe implications on our country, culture-wise as well as economically.
SAARC was established in 1985 to promote the welfare of people in South Asia, to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region, to promote self-reliance in the region among other objectives. One of the SAARC objectives is to contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems, which is funny because, as of yet, this has not been achieved by the group.
The two power houses in SAARC – India and Pakistan have failed at this objective mainly due to the Kashmir issue. And this year's summit maybe the tipping point of the entire thing.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced recently that the future of the SAARC looks bleak. According to him, SAARC's future will be disastrous if a solution accepted by all member States is not provided.
The Prime Minister said Sri Lanka will have to look for other alternatives if it fails to provide a solution. And of course, this has been a long time coming. India and Pakistan have no intention of resolving the Kashmir issue any time soon. The members of the SAARC should have seen this when a proposal to prevent border terrorism was rejected at the SAARC Summit in 1985 – the very first summit itself.
India's decision to pull out of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad this November, with Afghanistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh deciding to follow suit, effectively draws the curtain on what was increasingly becoming a farce.
Islamabad dropped any plans to send a representative to India to formally extend an invitation to the summit, as is the custom. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh was given a mixed welcome by his Pakistani hosts during the Home Ministers' meeting in Islamabad in August, prompting Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to cancel his visit for the subsequent SAARC Finance Ministers' meeting.
Sri Lanka has found itself at a crossroads. We could either follow India, who has always been our Big Brother figure to support whatever Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says and does in order to maintain our rapport. Sri Lanka can also abandon India and support Pakistan, in a wildcard move. The third move is to remain neutral.
But Sri Lanka will not remain neutral and it would be more sooner than later we are forced to pick a side. The SAARC boycotting was the first move towards it. Either way, SAARC is done or dusted – a 1980s hippy dream which was kaput even at its birth.
PM Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena have some serious decisions to make. Like PM Wickremesinghe said maybe it is time we looked into alternatives. Diplomacy works, and we are sure they know it. Isolating Pakistan, as India wants us to do, would be disastrous like we have learned in the past.
Hopefully that mistake is not committed all over again.
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