Sometimes we visualize that SAARC’s efforts come to halt because of various impediments to regional cooperation.” Elaborate with reasonable examples of impediment. (2015, 2016, 10 Marks)
SAARC’s record since 1985 is slow and halting: real but modest outputs (SAPTA, SAFTA, a food bank, the South Asian University), then no summit since 2014. The impediments are familiar; what matters is how they combine to turn slowdown into paralysis.
Institutional impediments
- Charter design. Article X requires unanimity at all levels and excludes bilateral and contentious issues, so one member can veto anything and the central dispute can never be worked on. At Kathmandu (2014) Pakistan blocked the motor vehicles and railways agreements.
- A weak secretariat with no power of initiative and no compliance mechanism.
Political and security impediments
- India–Pakistan rivalry and terrorism. After the Uri attack (September 2016) India, then Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan, withdrew from the Islamabad summit, never held. As Foreign Secretary, S. Jaishankar called SAARC a “jammed” vehicle in 2017. After Pahalgam (April 2025) India suspended all trade with Pakistan and placed the Indus Treaty in abeyance.
- Asymmetry and fear of dominance. Smaller states fear that interdependence with India will erode their autonomy and leverage in bilateral disputes; the 2015 supply disruption on the Nepal border fed that fear.
- Bilateral disputes: Teesta unsigned since 2011; Kalapani on Nepal’s 2020 map.
- Cross-border ethnic and migration questions: the Tamil question, Rohingya displacement, insurgent sanctuaries near the North-East.
- Domestic politics. Distance from India wins votes in several neighbours, while Tamil Nadu (fisheries) constrains Delhi and West Bengal blocked Teesta until May 2026.
- Extra-regional involvement: Cold War alignments once split the region; Chinese ports and loans from Hambantota to Gwadar now give smaller states an alternative. Even India’s 2017 South Asia Satellite lost its SAARC label when Pakistan stayed out.
Economic impediments
- SAFTA’s weak implementation. Tariff cuts began in July 2006, but sensitive lists and non-tariff barriers persisted. Pakistan never granted India MFN status; India withdrew Pakistan’s in February 2019.
- Costly borders: no transit regime, restrictive visas, cumbersome customs and little cross-border investment. Intra-regional trade stays under 6%.
- Competing economies that grew by trading with the West and East Asia.
Conclusion
The impediments interact: a border dispute becomes a water dispute, then a migration and ethnic question. S. D. Muni adds Indian hesitancy, calling India long a reluctant participant in SAARC. Yet the halt is not total: the March 2020 COVID-19 fund, the Programming Committee meeting of February 2026 and the Maldives’ July 2026 revival call show that functional cooperation in health, energy and disaster relief remains the route around the block.