Asia Times: Nepal rolls up summit red carpet, tries another tack



	November 24, 1999	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Nepal rolls up summit red carpet, tries another tack
By Akhilesh Upadhyay

KATHMANDU - Nepal has rolled up and put away the red carpet it was brushing down for the welcome reception. The regional summit which the South Asian heads of government were to attend this week has been indefinitely put off.

Earlier this month, India requested a postponement of the November 26-28 meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), saying the meeting would not be productive because of the coup in Pakistan.

It was in the ''best interest'' of Saarc to ''defer the meeting'', an official spokesman of the Indian foreign ministry was quoted as saying by Indian newspapers. The coup had spread ''disquiet in the region and beyond'', he said.

However, India's concern for democracy in Pakistan was not shared by all its neighbors.

Nepal's Foreign Minister Ram Sharan Mahat lobbied hard to forestall the postponement of the meeting when it became clear that India did not want its prime minister to have to meet Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf.

Now the Nepalese are set to have their summit by other means: a three-day brainstorming session on key issues like economic cooperation and security next month in Kathmandu. The ''track two'' diplomacy is to chalk out an alternative agenda for regional cooperation in South Asia for the next millennium, from December 1 to 3.

Among a number of influential figures from the seven Saarc countries at the meeting will be former Indian prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, and Pakistan's ex-foreign secretary Niaz Naik. Bangladesh will be represented by economist Rehman Sobhan, the Maldives by its minister of development and planning, I H Zaki, and Bhutan by Lyonpo Dago Tshering, its ambassador in India.

The bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, which has been a stumbling block to regional cooperation, will not come in the way of this meeting. Its alternative agenda includes many items that have been delayed by lack of political will, such as the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA).

Nepal's media was harsh in its criticism of India's stand. ''Who now foots the wasted expenditure?'' asked The Kathmandu Post in an editorial on November 12. ''As the poorest among the poor countries, Nepal has had to pay dearly for the stalled Summit.'' Most of the over 400 million rupees ($5 million) set aside for the conference preparations was spent, and the five-month-old Nepali Congress government has nothing to show in concrete terms, it complained.

''This is surely the taxpayer's money ill spent,'' the newspaper observed, and added that Saarc should have a provision whereby the country seeking postponement for reasons not mentioned in the Saarc charter has to compensate the host nation.

Analysts said the Indian withdrawal sets a dangerous precedent. If democracy has now become a bedrock issue for Saarc, what if a member nation attempts to defer the summit until democracy is established in Bhutan and the Maldives?

The Saarc charter states that all decisions taken should be by consensus, and that democracy or civilian rule is not a prerequisite.

India has participated in and hosted past Saarc summits which have been attended by authoritarian rulers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and the Maldives. Why then is India allowing its bilateral hostility with Pakistan to jeopardize the fragile Saarc process now?

According to Yadav Kant Silwal, former secretary general of Saarc and a seasoned Nepali diplomat, the Indian statement voices concern over the recent developments in Pakistan but cleverly keeps short of categorically explaining why it has decided to withdraw from the summit.

''What if another Saarc member comes up with as vaguely worded a proposal in the future?'' asks Silwal.

Most analysts, however, agree that the summit postponement will not derail the Saarc process altogether since there are strong indications that South Asian regionalism, which far transcends the political boundary, is here to stay.

Moreover, the two nuclear powers of South Asia, India and Pakistan, realize they can't do away with a regional forum to engage each other. According to analysts, politics has very much been one of Saarc's undeclared agendas and there will always be attempts to influence the political outcome by competing powers.

''Much like economics, politics has become a regional and a global issue,'' argues Hari Sharma. However, ''recent cooperation in South Asia in such areas as tourism indicate that regional cooperation is not likely to slow down.''

(Inter Press Service)