South Asia is one of the most populous and diverse regions on the globe, where a quarter of the world population lives. Most of the countries in South Asia are still instable, marked by conflicts and short of development, despite a great history, culture and potential for economic growth. One of the structures aimed at the creation of cooperation, peace and stability in this region is the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). However, SAARC hardly functions today, as it has largely remained in a state of frost due to conflict between two largest countries of this organization – India and Pakistan. It is very important to revive the organization because it can help solve regional issues and open the way for stability, economic development and integration.

The SAARC Charter was signed in 1985 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with seven founding members – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Later in 2006, Afghanistan was inducted as the eight member state of SAARC in 2007. The basic objective for the formation of SAARC were to foster development cooperation and regional welfare. Efforts were made to build confidence, enhance the prospects of peace and stability, and raise the quality of life of the people of South Asia.

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Nevertheless, despite very promising beginning, SAARC has experienced a very slow pace of development that has been mainly caused by political conflicts, especially the long-standing hostility between India and Pakistan. This rivalry has blinded the organization from other important tasks and hampered development of regional programs. Hence, SAARC has not met much success. At the same time, it remains the only outlet for collective diplomacy involving all the South Asian nations. Restoration of SAARC is need of the hour because it provides a mechanism or framework to respond to many of the issues typical of the region such as poverty, terrorism, iron curtain, environment, and income disparity.

South Asia is one of the least economically integrated regions globally.

The major reason behind an inactive SAARC is the hostility between two of its largest members, India and Pakistan, both of whom are nuclear powers. India, in its argument, states that Pakistan supports terrorism, while Pakistan feels that India is aggressive and opportunistic, especially in the issue of Kashmir. These tensions culminated in 2016 when India boycotted the SAARC meet in Islamabad in the wake of Pathankot terrorist attack, which, India said, was sponsored by the Pakistan-based militants.

But in the light of changing global order and new challenges including climate change, health hazards, economic fluctuations, calls have emerged again to revive SAARC. For both India and Pakistan, there remains a lot to be won in a stable South Asia and it is being realized that hostility does not serve the interests of either party.

The current and future economic cooperation potential regarding the South Asian economy is very high, but, unfortunately, South Asia is one of the least economically integrated regions globally. Fostering SAARC back into action could potentially augur to open massive economic advantages in the form of enhanced trade, investment, and infrastructure investments. It will enable the member states to cross burden sharing by pooling resources as well as coordinating efforts in large-scale infrastructure projects which may become extremely difficult for them to execute independently due to trade barriers.

The major reason behind an inactive SAARC is the hostility between two of its largest members, India and Pakistan.

One of the areas that SAARC can contribute towards cooperation to an optimal level is energy security. The SAARC member states rely on imports to meet their energy needs. Hence, energy deficits are evident in the region’s several states. If the South Asian countries start to come up introducing renewable energy sources together, such as hydropower in the case of Nepal and Bhutan or sun power in the case of India, the region’s energy security could considerably improve and there would be less reliance on imports.

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In addition, SAARC can attract investment through changing the economic existence from volatile and unpredictable circumstances to orderly and familiar conditions. The reason is simple: political instability in the region discourages investment. Optimizing relations between member countries can help to reduce the risks indicated above.

Meanwhile, the fact that current global issues cannot be viewed or solved in isolation also highlights the need to revive SAARC. Climate change is perhaps one of the best examples, which is resulting in rising sea levels, increase in natural disaster frequency and intensity, and adverse effects on agricultural yields. In this scenario, SAARC can play a central role in formulating regional strategies in addressing climate change impacts as well as food and water security mechanisms.

The other major factor discussed is health. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the poor healthcare services and a lack of regional health coordination framework. A rejuvenated SAARC will help develop structures through which the member states may mobilize resources jointly to confront pandemics and other health issues to ensure effective response.

As terrorism and extremism remain the main challenge sub-regional stability in South Asia, no country or the region is in a position to find a solution individually. SAARC as a regional body can improve information exchange, intelligence sharing and joint actions against terrorism, thus offering more and effective approaches to deal with these threats.