"The beast was born dead, but feigned life. The pretence of being alive was sustained by various equally stillborn attempts to show signs of life."
– Himal Southasian, editorial, January 2004
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. The more things change, the more they remain the same. This French aphorism perhaps best describes the institutional character of SAARC, which, since its establishment in 1985, has been seeking a change in our region in terms of poverty eradication and sustainable development. But this change is still nowhere in sight.
The problems besetting SAARC's member states, and those hampering the implementation of its agreed-upon plans and programmes, remain largely unaddressed. Southasia continues to be one of the world's poorest regions, with a closed economy despite some progress made toward trade liberalisation during the 1990s. The vast majority of its peoples continue to live under grinding poverty and sub-human conditions. Five of SAARC's eight member states – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal – belong to the UN category of so-called Least Developed Countries.