Smruti S. Pattanaik is Research Fellow (SS) at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for detailed profile
Security has been a major driving force of India's neighbourhood policy. India's sympathies with democratic forces and its aversion to extra-regional presence are all geared to optimise its security interest, which is ensconced in its principal belief of a stable neighbourhood while engaging in a mutually beneficial relationship. Within this broad framework, this paper attempts to study Bangladesh's reaction to these parameters of India's neighbourhood policy.
This volume includes a collection of papers contributed by eminent scholars and analysts from the South Asian region on how they visualise South Asia a decade hence. It is recognised that the region suffers from several constraints that has made common challenges difficult to address; nevertheless, there is an optimism that the region will move forward steadily albeit slowly, to evolve a common agenda, and shape a regional identity that would form the bedrock of any cooperative endeavour.
The SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit is often described as being a mere photo opportunity for south Asian leaders who should actually be using the comatose organisation to reinvent regional cooperation in a globalised world. Such pessimism is inevitable if one takes stock of the progress that SAARC has made over the period of time. There exists a SAARC convention to deal with all issues that have a certain salience in the regional context.
The survey in J&K and ‘Azad Kashmir’ indicates that people consider unemployment as a major problem, followed by corruption, poor economic development and human rights abuses.
Engaging Pakistan would reduce tension between the two countries, deflect international pressure on India to resume the dialogue, and ensure that Pakistan does not have an excuse to divert its troops from the Western border.
Campus violence by its student body, avoidable controversy over the constitution of the war crime tribunal, and unnecessary confrontation with the BNP are diverting the Awami League from its commitment to generate a change in Bangladesh's political culture.
Time to Redeem SAARC
While the world community is trying its best to provide help to flood affected Pakistan in spite of aid fatigue, SAARC is conspicuous by its absence.