SAARC may be beyond repair, but are the non-governmental ´friend´s friend´ networks doing any better?
Two incidents occurred in quick succession in the last two months that had a bearing on more than two South Asian countries. The first was the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane and the second was the expelling of a Pakistani diplomat by the Nepali government on charges that he was involved in the circulation of fake Indian currency.
The first event was accompanied by jingoistic reporting by the Indian media which portrayed Nepal as a "security liability" for India, a terrain supposedly infested with Pakistani ISI agents. Counter reportage in the Nepali media meanwhile speculated that the hijacking itself was the doing of agents of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, and the event and its reportage in the Indian media were all part of an Indian grand scheme to incorporate Nepal within a extraterritorial Indian "security arrangement".
The second incident, that involving the diplomat, was described by the Pakistani ambassador in Kathmandu as one in which all diplomatic norms had been violated by Nepal. As far as mutual trust among these three South Asian countries were concerned, it seemed to have hit a new low. In this scenario, it is pertinent to question what role the scores of intra-SAARC initiatives at confidence building have had in fostering South Asian cooperation and whether the record so far give us much reason to be hopeful?