Against the backdrop of apparent Indian apathy, Bangladesh is still committed to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and believes that the regional body has still a lot to offer in the coming days once the member states realise its full potential in changing people’s life for better, Foreign Ministry officials have told The Independent.
The nineteenth summit of SAARC comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November last year, but it was postponed mainly due to tension between the body’s two largest members – India and Pakistan.     
Unlike on previous occasions, there was no mention of SAARC in the 62-point joint Bangladesh-India joint statement issued on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi from April 7 to 10.
But, after over a week, Prime Minister Hasina undertook a visit to Bhutan from April 18-20 and there was a mention of SAARC in the 26-point joint statement issued on the visit.
On April 22, Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi, who accompanied Hasina during her Bhutan trip, told a programme that for this moment it is doubtful whether or not the next summit meeting will happen.
In January, this year, the Prime Minister told an event on the sidelines of the annual meeting of World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland, “The effectiveness of SAARC is still there and I think there’s a lot to work on it. SAARC is very much alive.”
Meantime, Director General (South Asia and SAARC) of the Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry told this correspondent that his country is ready to host the postponed summit once it gets the ‘green signal’ from the other member states. When all these issues were referred to the officials concerned of the Foreign Ministry, they unequivocally said that as far as Dhaka is concerned, the SAARC is there and it is there to stay.
However, they acknowledged that things are not looking ‘good’ for the regional body at least for the time being and that it could not fulfil the people’s aspirations even 32 years after its inception.
The officials said that it is expected that the Finance Ministers of SAARC countries will meet informally on the sidelines of the 50th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the Japanese city of Yokohama on May 5.
This will be the first meeting among the SAARC ministers after the announcement of postponement of the 19th summit in October, last year, they said, adding that this meeting is customary at every annual ADB meeting.
“Yes, there’s no mention of SAARC in the Bangladesh-India joint statement. Rather, there were mentions of BIMSTEC, BBIN and BCIM that don’t include Pakistan. The mention of SAARC has always been there in the joint statements issued by both the countries. Even, the joint statement issued on the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka in June, 2015 stated the pledge to work closely in furthering relevant regional/sub-regional cooperation processes including SAARC, BIMSTEC and BCIM,” a senior official said.
“Non-mention of SAARC in the joint statement can be interpreted, if you like, as Indian lack of interest, at least, for the time being,” he said, adding, “I haven’t yet heard India say that they are not with the SAARC.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s remarks on SAARC in Davos, another official said, “This is the position of Bangladesh.”
“SAARC was created in the very capital of Bangladesh. So, we will not let SAARC disappear like this. Yes, the regional forum is passing a rough patch. But, you never know. Things may change for better in near future,” he added. About the statements of the Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser, he said, “These are, perhaps, his personal views which might have come out owing to frustration.”
The officials also said that the postponement of SAARC is nothing new and it does not imply the end of the regional body. To a question, they, however, agreed that time has not yet come to declare a new date for the summit. In reply to a question, the officials said that though no ministerial meeting took place since the postponement, functional level meetings and activities of different SAARC projects have not stopped.
They also pointed out that India-Pakistan tense relationship might be the main reason behind the ineffectiveness of SAARC, but there are other players too.
For instance, they added that in terms of trade liberalisation, things do not move due to the objections raised by the smaller nations.
At the end of the day, the officials said that it is the political will that is necessary to move forward this organisation, which has so much potential to better the lives of the people of the member states. “The sooner the leaders of the member states realise this, the better,” said a senior official.