The Hindu : Getting America into SAARC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 09, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Getting America into SAARC

By C. Raja Mohan

Among the latest ideas on accelerating regional cooperation in the subcontinent, there is one which is taking the breath away from the mandarins of the South Block: letting the United States play a more active role in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Will the shocking proposal for an American association with SAARC inject some life into the moribund organisation? In diplomacy, as in mathematics, if you cannot solve a problem in one framework, you find another. In mathematics, you just change the ``boundary conditions''. In diplomacy, you handle a difficult question either by narrowing the focus or expanding its scope. Such a moment might be at hand for SAARC.

After two decades of existence, SAARC has done precious little on the key question of free trade. While most regions of the world have rapidly moved towards economic integration, the subcontinent has not been able to get its act together even on simple matters such as preferential trade, thanks to the negative attitude of Pakistan.

There are two ways of breaking out of this box. One is for India to take the path of positive unilateralism, offer trade concessions to the neighbours and put in place bold bilateral free trade arrangements. India is down this road, but not marching with vigour.

The other is to mobilise global economic forces to step up the pace of regional economic cooperation. That is where the U.S. comes in. The American interest in promoting free trade in South Asia and mega trans-border projects such as natural gas pipelines, regional electricity grids and highways could be mobilised by India to accelerate the economic integration in the region. The U.S. need not be the only external force that can facilitate economic cooperation in the subcontinent. China, too, can be an important player.

Well before Washington has taken a shine to SAARC, Beijing had shown an inclination to work with the regional association. It has also been eager to initiate sub-regional cooperation with the eastern part of the subcontinent.

For India, regional economic integration should be among the highest strategic priorities. If SAARC cannot deliver the goods, India must look for other ways. If India focusses on political outcomes and not slogans, the idea of associating other powers in the process might not look so outlandish.

* * *

The Bush administration is apparently keen on promoting trade and transit arrangements among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. India should have no problems with that. But it does have a problem when the U.S. complains that Indian activity in Afghanistan is having an effect on the sensitivities of Pakistan.

Instead of lending credence to the unreasonable demands of Pakistan, Washington should be telling Islamabad to resume normal trading relations with New Delhi and open up its territory for transit trade.

If the U.S. can get Pakistan to act in its own economic self-interest, the current political impasse between New Delhi and Islamabad could be ended and a basis can be created for a more rapid and cooperative economic reconstruction in Afghanistan.

* * *

As the globalisation of South Asian security takes place, many old Indian assumptions about regional order are beginning to crumble. India's insistence on bilateralism is one such. Recall India's nervousness two years ago when the Norwegians began their open mediation of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

It is doubtful if another direct Indian intervention would have produced the same results as the Norwegian one. The question is no longer whether India should allow other powers to poke around the internal political disputes festering in the subcontinent. It is whether the objectives of such interventions are in the interest of India or not.

With the Norwegian mediation and the American support to it focussed on preserving the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and securing the rights of the Tamil minority, India has had little reason to object. If the peace process in Lanka succeeds, it could send an important signal to the rest of the subcontinent — that there is no international support to redrawing maps in the region.

The challenge for South Asia lies in changing the political rules within existing boundaries towards autonomy and federalism to address the many ethnic conflicts. It also lies in changing the nature of borders to let free movement of goods and people across them.

* * *

Diplomatic problem-solving is mostly about finding the right words. At Oslo last week, the Norwegians have come up with the innovative phrase of ``internal self-determination'' for Tamils in Sri Lanka. That should give space for the Tamil leadership to claim that they have not given up the idea of self-determination even as it accepts the notion of a ``united'' Sri Lanka.

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