With a new government at the helm and its decision to allow Indian Sikhs visa-free travel to Kartarpur Pakistan had rightly expected a change of heart on the part of Indian leadership. So, on the eve of groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor, Pakistan renewed its invitation to India to attend the 19th summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc). Though India had boycotted its last meeting to be held in Islamabad – prompting three other member-states to join the boycott – Pakistan was now overtly optimistic. But that was a gross miscalculation of India’s hegemonic mindset, reinforced now all the more as the Hindutva champions rule the roost in that country. India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj’s argument that “unless and until Pakistan stops terrorist activity in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc summit” lacks plausibility. By bringing in bilateral issues, New Delhi government tends to subvert the very essence of this regional organisation. The India’s rejection reflects misconception of the very raison d’ etre of the Saarc and is an insult to the very idea of institutional cooperation among the region’s states. The working of the Saarc is not subject to any country’s veto, nor is it a platform for bilateral and contentious issues. New Delhi is therefore in violation of the very Charter of this organisation. As for the bilateral issues, the Saarc offers their deliberations on the margins of its meetings’ sidelines – an opportunity exploited at all other regional and international organisations. And then there is its mandatory dictate that the Saarc members “shall” meet once a year. One may ask is this organisation still alive even after India’s refusal to join the 19th summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad?

Following the end of WWII the world over there is phenomenal growth of regional associations, some defence-oriented but most geared to generate socio-economic inter-state cooperative possibilities. The Saarc too is the outcome of that thinking, though it was late to be conceived and remains slow in gathering the needed momentum. It was envisaged primarily as a first step toward transition to South Asia Free Trade Area, leading to Customs Union, common market and European-style Economic Union. No wonder then it took nearly two decades to form South Asia Free Trade Area through exchanging concessions. But, more critically, it remains hostage to the evolving geopolitical thinking in the corridors of power in the Indian capital. Since India perseveres in that mindset, the Saarc faces an uncertain future. Sushma Swaraj has underscored the need for looking at the “big picture”. But as we do that we find India at the heart of each and every problem that keeps a billion and half people caught in poverty and ignorance. If not its hegemonic designs what else is then causing the slow death of this regional cooperation framework? In his speech at the Kartarpur corridor ceremony, Prime Minister Imran Khan once again offered the hand of friendship. He asked at the Kartarpur function: If France and Germany, who fought two major wars, can come together what holds India back?

Given that both Pakistan and India are nuclear-weapon states war between them is no more an option; nor is there the possibility of India being allowed to operate as regional policeman. India got to live in its present neighbourhood, and for that proximity to be friction-free an active Saarc summit is the best option.