SAARC 15, Colombo: Anything in it ?
Atul Chatterjee
August 05, 2008
The 15th South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation at Colombo has drawn to a close. It has made what is called a ´Colombo declaration´ basically to tackle the food situation; an agreement to consult each other on criminal matters basically addressing the issue of terrorists seeking sanctuary in other countries and underlying it is terrorism being sponsored in foreign lands; a plan to link Tehran in Iran to Agartla in Tripura, India by a road cutting through Bangladesh.
First, the Colombo declaration to turn South Asia into a food surplus region. India is self sufficient in wheat and rice, but just about. It has already banned the export of coarser varieties of rice, it is an importer of edible oils and pulses. Bangladesh is a well known basket case depending on international largesse. There is the intention of setting up granaries which will transport food grain to deficit areas in times of shortages. This Colombo declaration will be followed up by a further more detailed statement a few months down the line.
The agreement to consult each other in criminal matters i.e. essentially terror. Here again the situation is peculiar. In Pakistan the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) reports to a serving general of the army, a recent move to shift it to civilian control was thwarted. It has been accused of aiding the Taliban by the United States and India has all along said that it was responsible for training foreign and Indians who are pushed into India to commit acts of terrorism. So whether enquiries from the civilian authority will be answered by the ISI at all is debatable. Also it is speculated that within the ISI there are rogue cells which do not obey the commands of the army, but follow their own agenda.
(As a matter of interest the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and ISI had collaborated in the late sixties and early seventies to foment a pro Khalistan movement.)
The north west area of Pakistan is barely under control of the army. Here the tribals have been helping the Taliban and very likely terrorists who have later come into India. All in all India or Afghanistan or any other nation will be free to make enquiries, but will the civilian government be in a position to give answers or deliver terrorist suspects?
In the case of India, inter state exchange of information on criminals and terrorists is notoriously poor because there is no clearing house for information. In fact India´s track record in apprehending terrorists before strikes is poor. Coupled with inadequate laws and a justice system which is highly technical in its approach, India has a lot of homework to do before trying to bring back terrorists who have escaped the country.
The plan to link Tehran to Agartala is not as grand as it seems, earlier in the sixties and seventies it was possible to travel by road all the way from Europe to Delhi. While the roads being made better are obviously important, we´ll have to wait and see how easy will the visa regime become to cross borders. For transport of goods it will obviously be a big plus. For India to get a road all the way across Bangladesh will be a huge gain, even today it is possible to make the crossing by road, but spats between the two countries have stopped goods from being transported by this route.
It was agreed that a direct air link would be provided between Delhi and the Maldives. Does it require a government level meet where heads like prime minister Manmohan Singh of India, Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan, gather to make such an announcement?
There is a loose agreement between ASEAN and SAARC so that an observer from that body can evaluate SAARC initiatives.
What the SAARC meet did not talk about was literacy and population control. Both these are grave problems. In Nepal for example there is an acute shortage of teachers. India had in the earlier days of the Sarva Shikha Abhiyan developed an excellent model for large scale training of teachers.
It is no longer fashionable to talk about population control, but large populations remain one of the greatest consumers of resources.
The SAARC website does not give details of what happened in the earlier fourteen SAARC meetings. That is a pity, because then one could list all the declarations and check their validity with ground reality. In fact there should be a review of what has been achieved by SAARC.
First, the Colombo declaration to turn South Asia into a food surplus region. India is self sufficient in wheat and rice, but just about. It has already banned the export of coarser varieties of rice, it is an importer of edible oils and pulses. Bangladesh is a well known basket case depending on international largesse. There is the intention of setting up granaries which will transport food grain to deficit areas in times of shortages. This Colombo declaration will be followed up by a further more detailed statement a few months down the line.
The agreement to consult each other in criminal matters i.e. essentially terror. Here again the situation is peculiar. In Pakistan the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) reports to a serving general of the army, a recent move to shift it to civilian control was thwarted. It has been accused of aiding the Taliban by the United States and India has all along said that it was responsible for training foreign and Indians who are pushed into India to commit acts of terrorism. So whether enquiries from the civilian authority will be answered by the ISI at all is debatable. Also it is speculated that within the ISI there are rogue cells which do not obey the commands of the army, but follow their own agenda.
(As a matter of interest the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and ISI had collaborated in the late sixties and early seventies to foment a pro Khalistan movement.)
The north west area of Pakistan is barely under control of the army. Here the tribals have been helping the Taliban and very likely terrorists who have later come into India. All in all India or Afghanistan or any other nation will be free to make enquiries, but will the civilian government be in a position to give answers or deliver terrorist suspects?
In the case of India, inter state exchange of information on criminals and terrorists is notoriously poor because there is no clearing house for information. In fact India´s track record in apprehending terrorists before strikes is poor. Coupled with inadequate laws and a justice system which is highly technical in its approach, India has a lot of homework to do before trying to bring back terrorists who have escaped the country.
The plan to link Tehran to Agartala is not as grand as it seems, earlier in the sixties and seventies it was possible to travel by road all the way from Europe to Delhi. While the roads being made better are obviously important, we´ll have to wait and see how easy will the visa regime become to cross borders. For transport of goods it will obviously be a big plus. For India to get a road all the way across Bangladesh will be a huge gain, even today it is possible to make the crossing by road, but spats between the two countries have stopped goods from being transported by this route.
It was agreed that a direct air link would be provided between Delhi and the Maldives. Does it require a government level meet where heads like prime minister Manmohan Singh of India, Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan, gather to make such an announcement?
There is a loose agreement between ASEAN and SAARC so that an observer from that body can evaluate SAARC initiatives.
What the SAARC meet did not talk about was literacy and population control. Both these are grave problems. In Nepal for example there is an acute shortage of teachers. India had in the earlier days of the Sarva Shikha Abhiyan developed an excellent model for large scale training of teachers.
It is no longer fashionable to talk about population control, but large populations remain one of the greatest consumers of resources.
The SAARC website does not give details of what happened in the earlier fourteen SAARC meetings. That is a pity, because then one could list all the declarations and check their validity with ground reality. In fact there should be a review of what has been achieved by SAARC.
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