The martyred former President of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman dreamt of the idea of forming a strong and viable forum comprising of the South Asian countries to secure their sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and economic prosperity by promoting cooperation in all sectors. All the countries, including India, welcomed President Zia’s proposal. But India virtually undertook a dilly-dally policy of delaying the formation of such a forum, which later emerged as SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) after the assassination of Zia.
Padmaja Murthy, an Indian researcher, acknowledging the reason for India’s procrastination wrote: “SAARC was first envisioned in the late 1970s by General Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh. Initially, India was apprehensive about SAARC because it perceived the grouping to be an attempt by its smaller neighbors to unite against it.”
India waited till the assassination (orchestrated by Indian intelligence agency RAW) of President Zaiur Rahman. India’s subsequent notoriety centering SAARC clearly exposed that it had hidden hegemonic visions to exploit, squeeze and reduce its neighboring countries to ultimately occupy them.
SAARC was floated having two principles (virtually preconditions) in its charter that made it incapacitated and a hostage to India. These principles are: 1. No bilateral dispute can be raised or discussed in the SAARC forum, and 2. No decision comes into effect if any member-country disagrees with it.
Such preconditions proved disastrous for SAARC as India maintains and creates bilateral problems with all of its neighboring countries. Whilst regional organizations are meant to remove such disputes and problems, SAARC failed to mitigate or resolve those.
With such preconditions, SAARC started its journey not as an open forum, but rather, a restricted one. No Heads of States or Governments can express their views regarding problems or disputes that they face from the co-member country/countries.
Under these conditions, India maintains bilateral problems with the member-countries, making SAARC ineffective.
SAARC leaders and officials sit side by side in meetings with misunderstandings, hatred, anguish and even enmity in their minds. The meetings thus end without having any desired output.
Therefore, all the summits, conferences, and meetings of SAARC so far held virtually turned into expensive get-togethers, more like picnics. India and its expansionist dreams are entirely responsible for making SAARC a dysfunctional forum. Though the SAARC Charter categorically mentioned its member-countries will not interfere in the internal affairs of others and shall respect their territorial integrity, India violated this very crucial and basic commitment.
Since 1973 India started providing all types of logistical support to the Chakma terrorists to cede the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Since 1980, India has incited the Tamil Tigers to break the Northerly region of Sri Lanka. India did not stop such subversive games despite the formation of SAARC in 1987.
India even compelled its President Junius Richard Jayewardene to sign a treaty to deploy Indian troops in the Island country in the name of crushing its own made Tamil Tigers for whom it opened 31 training centers in Tamil Nadu and its adjoining states. India’s hidden design was to keep its forces for an unlimited period till the country turns into a satellite state. The Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agents assassinated President Prema Dasa of Sri Lanka on May 1, 1993 because he had asked the Indian forces to leave Sri Lanka.
In the same year, RAW sent its armed mercenaries to the Maldives to topple the government of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
On June 1, 2001 RAW killed King Birendra of Nepal and all of his own family members. None of the king’s descendants were kept alive.
RAW recruited and nursed its elements in Pakistan and infiltrated huge operatives from India. In an interview with me a Nepali journalist and human rights activist Mukendo Subedi informed stated that Nepal is beset with RAW agents and operatives. He said that it is impossible to say who is free from RAW’s influence and blessings. He stated that India finances and encourages the Nepalese living on the southern border with India.
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly asked the people of Balochistan and Sindh to go to India to get military training to liberate them from Pakistan August 15, 2015. It clearly justifies that India exports terrorists and secessionists to Pakistan.
Indian RAW also regularly infiltrates its agents and operatives into Pakistan. Some of them were arrested inside Pakistan. Indian Navy officer Kulbhshan Sudhir Jadva, also spelled Kulbushan Yadav, who named himself in Pakistan as Hussain Mubarak Patel was arrested in Balochistan; paid agent Khalil, Imtiaz, and Rashid (infiltrated from India-Occupied Kashmir and arrested in Azad Kashmir who had close contact with the Indian army officers Major Ranjeet, Major Sultan, and another unknown officer) are two examples. All of these agents and operatives have been arrested since 2016.
India’s disruptive and hegemonic activities against all of its neighboring countries are antagonistic to the SAARC charter. It conspiratorially boycotted the Islamabad Summit scheduled to be held on November 15-19, 2015. Six years have passed but India has shown no interest in continuing the normal functionality of SAARC and clearly favors the annihilation of it.
Due to India’s ulterior policies and designs, SAARC is virtually ineffective. It must be reformed to make it effective and dynamic so that its member-countries can mutually end their dispute and enmity forever to ensure regional peace and prosperity, which will save this region from nuclear war. None should forget that this is a region that already has three nuclearized countries (China, India and Pakistan). Some military analysts claim that neighboring Iran and even Myanmar also clandestinely are trying to be nuclearized.
To avert nuclear war, end the supremacy of any country, wipe out enmity and rivalry and to ensure peace and prosperity through friendship and amity, there should be balance of power.
So, initiative should be taken to organize another simultaneous forum comprising of SARRC member-countries with the inclusion of neighboring China, Iran and Myanmar. There should be a provision of raising all bilateral and regional issues in the official level meetings in the proposed forum, which, at least, can request the concerned countries to mitigate their problems. Even if any SAARC country denies joining such a greater and expanded regional forum, such a forum still needs to be formed to ensure peace and prosperity of the region.
*The writer is a Bangladesh-origin journalist & researcher.
August 6, 2021
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
