The meeting of the heads of government of the seven countries of this region (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives) took place in New Delhi on April 3-4, 2007. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded nearly two decades ago, but to this date, regional cooperation here has been extremely low. In fact, South Asia is considered one of the “least integrated regions of the world”. For instance, trade among the countries of this region is extremely limited: less than 2% of the GDP of the region, and much less than the trade of these countries with the outside world. This is in spite of the existence of factors that usually make for good trade, like geographical proximity, similar cultural preferences, and a long history of intraregional trade in the past. While the region as a whole has abundant energy reserves (especially coal, hydro-electric power and natural gas), many countries here are energy-deficient. Still, there is very little sharing of energy resources. Cross-border trade too is very limited, since the costs are high and the difficulties facing traders formidable.

Normal movement of peoples across borders is also extremely limited, despite the fact that the peoples living along the borders of these countries have traditionally had very close ties. Where movement of peoples does take place, it is often branded as “illegal migration”, as refugee influx, or even worse, as “cross-border terrorism”. Movement of people faces not only administrative and legal hurdles, but train, bus and air connectivity and telecommunication links between the countries is also poor. Despite the personal and family ties many people in these countries have with others across the border, only 7% of the international calls made from this region are to countries within the region, in contrast to, for example, 71% in the East Asian region.

Despite its great natural and human resources, South Asia is one of the poorest regions of the world. It has the largest number of poor people of any region in the world. It has the largest number of people who cannot read or write. Living conditions, including the health status, of the majority of the population is low, and it is the only region of the world where the number of females is less than the number of males, revealing the particularly harsh conditions faced by its women and girls. The countries here also share the legacy of colonial subjugation that turned this, one of the most economically productive and flourishing regions of the world in pre-colonial times, into one of the most backward.

Given their common problems and experiences, and their shared histories, a much greater level of cooperation among the South Asian countries would have been expected. The main reason that this is not so is, firstly, because the British colonialists deliberately instigated divisions among the nations and peoples of the region, and secondly, because the ruling classes of these countries have further entrenched and deepened these divisions as part of their strategy to defend and advance their own interests. In this respect, the Indian ruling class bears the main responsibility. Being the ruling class of a country far bigger than any of the others, and commanding far greater resources and military power, it has always considered itself as the overlord of the region. It has fought several wars with Pakistan, and has sent its army into Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It has used its geographical position at the centre of this region, as well as its economic clout, against countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Both in the north-east and north-west regions, it has deployed massive concentrations of troops and fenced off borders in the name of a “security threat” and insurgency in those regions. The other countries of this region know very well that if they cross the Indian state, either economically or politically, it can make things extremely difficult for them in various ways.

This is the main reason why the establishment of SAARC has made little difference on the ground in all these years. So sharp have been the contradictions that in many years it has not been able to even hold its annual summit. The peoples of this region have paid the price for the lack of cooperation and goodwill amongst their political establishments in various ways. It has prevented them from looking to each other for common solutions to their common problems. Above all, the lack of unity and mutual suspicions have permitted imperialist powers like the US to make greater inroads into the region, and have pushed the countries along the costly road of increasing militarization.

14 th Summit of SAARC

The 14 th Summit of SAARC in New Delhi took place against this background.

One feature of this Summit was the increased interest of countries outside the region in the affairs of SAARC. Afghanistan, which languishes under American imperialist occupation, was admitted as a full member (the eighth). For the first time, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States were formally allowed to participate as “observers”. Whereas the US and China have definite political interests in the region, all four countries are increasingly interested in the region as a huge and growing market and source of raw materials as well as a field for investment, under the conditions where several of the countries are liberalizing their economies and opening up to foreign capital.

The admission of Afghanistan as member, (which India pushed for), and of China as an observer (which India was unhappy with but Nepal and other SAARC member countries pushed for) reveal some of the changing dynamics within SAARC. The Indian bourgeoisie is interested in projecting itself as a world power, not just a South Asian power. For this it needs to ensure that its contradictions with its immediate neighbors within SAARC are kept in manageable terms. Thus it was that it was noticeable that the representatives of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh kept their animosities in check during the Summit.

Various platitudes were repeated about the need to step up cooperation. However, little was achieved in terms of substantially removing the barriers towards greater cooperation, apart from token promises to ease some visa restrictions, improve connectivity and consider trade facilitation measures, as well as set up a South Asia Development Fund and a South Asian University. The Summit Declaration also referred to cooperation against terrorism as part of other “transnational crimes”.

Real cooperation and unity in the region is something that is desired by all the peoples that reside here. The block to this comes precisely from the ruling class of India and some other countries and from the US and other imperialists who do not want the peoples of South Asia to live in peace with each other. The colonial legacy, the partition of the subcontinent along communal lines, the extremely close connections of the ruling class of India and Pakistan with the imperialists, and the imperialist strivings of the Indian ruling class are major impediments to cooperation and unity in this region. The peoples aspiring for this cooperation and unity must demand an end to the warmongering, militarization, cynical use of communal politics and the politics of one-upmanship among the member states, starting with the Indian state.This is necessary to free the energies of the one and a half billion people of South Asia, who constitute one-quarter of the world's population, and to enable them to take up the burning issue of getting rid of their poverty, backwardness and exploitation.