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South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Major Shaheb

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The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organisation of South Asian nations, founded in December 1985 by Ziaur Rahman and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasising collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Sri Lanka, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secretaries, twice annually. It is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.

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Objectives

The objectives of the Association as defined in the Charter are:[2]
to promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life;
to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full potential;
to promote and strengthen selective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia;
to contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems;
to promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields;
to strengthen cooperation with other developing countries;
to strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of common interest; and
to cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.
 
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SAARC would have been more effective if

-there was developed country among us
-we did not have much geopolitical tensions among us
-there is a greater public awareness for SAARC
-our governments are not so corrupted
 
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any such organization is bound to fail until Pakistan and India solve their disputes.

When that happens then South Asia can become much closer.
 
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any such organization is bound to fail until Pakistan and India solve their disputes.

When that happens then South Asia can become much closer.

If india and Pakistan solve their disputes, regional problem will still persist with india and its neighbors. In fact it'll increase with other neighbors of india then as their one front tension will be light. Currently india has to put a big stake of its attention on both China and Pakistan parts, so its roguish treatments with other neighbors are a degree lower. South Asian nation can come closer if and only if india divides in pieces. Otherwise for the time being we could make SAARC as South Asian Association for Regional Collision where people will meet together to discuss collision instead of cooperation.


@Major Shaheb: SAARC was dreamed by Ziaur Rahman (died in 81) and the dream was materialized by Ershad who completed all projects dreamed by Zia. You said it was founded in 1985, Zia no longer existed then.
 
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SAARC may evolve as a free trade area, but no political union or security/strategic alliance is possible. Hindutva will get stronger with every passing year in India and India will never accept a political union with large number of Muslims. Only non-Muslim states are acceptable to them.

For Muslims too, they have no interest to go back under Hindu Ram Rajya, since all of our forefathers fought for and won Pakistan (a part of which later became Bangladesh).
 
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But... Just imagine what we could achieve through SAARC... An united (by SAARC) South Asia means nobody or no country in the world would have the guts to go against us. We could even make our own common currency just like Euro... Our joint effort could have gained us a lot further than we are today.
 
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But... Just imagine what we could achieve through SAARC... An united (by SAARC) South Asia means nobody or no country in the world would have the guts to go against us. We could even make our own common currency just like Euro... Our joint effort could have gained us a lot further than we are today.

The problem is that none of India's neighbors trust it enough to do this.
You cannot have a common currency with people who you don't trust.
India has shown in the past that it is an aggressive state and wan't to dominate South Asia.
While the EU does not have member states that are hostile to each other and no one country want's to dominate.

So once again, this is just a dream.

I do think all the other nations in South Asia besides India can get together as they don't really have that much of a problem with each other.
 
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If Pakistan is sidelined, the rest of SAARC(except Afghanistan) can still make progress on consensus. Pakistan will later join after relations improve with India. Remember India is a giant sitting in between all the SAARC countries. At least something should start working like a liberal visa regime and we can see where things go. Common currency is very very far if at all there is a a prospect.

@Rusty: In what ways is India dominating? India always voted with SAARC countries in the UN except for the Srilanka resolution this year which was due to political compulsions.
 
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The problem is that none of India's neighbors trust it enough to do this.
You cannot have a common currency with people who you don't trust.
India has shown in the past that it is an aggressive state and wan't to dominate South Asia.
While the EU does not have member states that are hostile to each other and no one country want's to dominate.

So once again, this is just a dream.

I do think all the other nations in South Asia besides India can get together as they don't really have that much of a problem with each other.

India would surely dominate South Asia considering 85% of trade in SAARC region is through India. That gives it a major leverage. Pakistanis are delusional to think they can punch above their weight. Pakistanis are only equal to India when it comes to Nuclear weapons (not sure how long it'll last) but for everything else, you would have to be subordinate to India. Like it or not.You'll see.
 
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But... Just imagine what we could achieve through SAARC... An united (by SAARC) South Asia means nobody or no country in the world would have the guts to go against us. We could even make our own common currency just like Euro... Our joint effort could have gained us a lot further than we are today.

I like Zia, but this dream of his was naive. The more you find out about Indians the more you will know that they will never want to be in any union that will dilute their majority. So SAARC is a mirage that will waste everyone's time who believes in it. Indians of course would not say much, with their usual deception, but they know that any political union or security/strategic alliance is unthinkable for them. Essentially you are talking about undoing partition, very few Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi would agree to such a future, as they know it will be against public opinion in all 3 countries.

If partition did not happen in 1947, it might have been possible to stay together, but since partition happened all 3 countries moved in 3 separate direction and in my opinion it is impossible to bring them back into one entity again. It will happen when the whole world becomes one country, some centuries in the future.
 
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I like Zia, but this dream of his was naive. The more you find out about Indians the more you will know that they will never want to be in any union that will dilute their majority. So SAARC is a mirage that will waste everyone's time who believes in it. Indians of course would not say much, with their usual deception, but they know that any political union or security/strategic alliance is unthinkable for them. Essentially you are talking about undoing partition, very few Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi would agree to such a future, as they know it will be against public opinion in all 3 countries.

If partition did not happen in 1947, it might have been possible to stay together, but since partition happened all 3 countries moved in 3 separate direction and in my opinion it is impossible to bring them back into one entity again. It will happen when the whole world becomes one country, some centuries in the future.

I sugest, we should include China in SAARC. That way India wont be able to dominate nobody as is said in Hindi: Baap ka bhi Baap hota hain.....:lol:
 
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I sugest, we should include China in SAARC. That way India wont be able to dominate nobody as is said in Hindi: Baap ka bhi Baap hota hain.....:lol:

China wants to be a part of SAARC and Pakistan and probably Bangladesh both support China's membership. India will never agree. I would go with a union with China any day. But there are problems for large countries like China or India to become a part of any union with smaller countries. I have a few threads dedicated to this issue of regionalism, not sure if you have seen them:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/164048-kalu_miahs-new-world-order-road-map-future.html
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180755-geopolitics-asean-region.html
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180767-geopolitics-eurasia-region.html
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/180774-geopolitics-african-union.html
 
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