Boycotting SAARC isn't the answer

INDIA and four other countries have pulled out of the 19th summit of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be held in Islamabad in November. India's action was taken in the wake of the Uri attack on Sept 18 in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir. Similar actions by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have led to the cancellation of the summit, and several commentators have opined that "SAARC is dead".

According to the SAARC charter, a summit of the eight-member grouping cannot be held even if one member pulls out; this time, five have done so. The inability to hold summits is not, however, something new in SAARC. Summits have either not been held or postponed in roughly half of the years that the grouping has been in existence. The main reason for this is the conflict between nuclear-powered India and Pakistan. But SAARC is resilient and eventually diplomacy will prevail, and the summits will resume as in the past, if intermittently.

BILATERALISM, SUB-REGIONALISM AND INTER-REGIONALISM