The Indian government led by the hard-line Bharatiya Janata Party has put a spoke in the wheel of SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation), by forcing a postponement of the summit, scheduled for 26-28 November in Kathmandu. In doing so, New Delhi has seriously weakened the only regional cooperation body of South Asia, and wantonly antagonised its neighbours. Ironically, it may end up harming its own interests.
India's motives in opposing the summit were wholly Pakistan-specific and devoid of any universal considerations or political principle. It asked for an indefinite deferment of the meeting of the seven heads of government because the military coup d'etat in Pakistan has caused "concern and disquiet" in "the region and beyond", and that this would not make for a "productive" meeting —a concern not shared by the other six SAARC member-states.
In the 14 years of its existence, SAARC has dealt with many non-democratic leaders, including Gen Ziaur Rehman of Bangladesh, who was especially enthusiastic on regional cooperation and had energetically campaigned for setting up the regional organisation. His successor, Gen H.M. Ershad, presided over the first SAARC summit in 1985. Pakistan's military ruler Gen Zia-ul Haq was also an active participant in that summit and other SAARC conferences. As has been the King of Bhutan, no democrat himself.
India's rationale for opposing the summit thus involves double standards. New Delhi is loath to deal with Gen Musharraf — not because it refuses in principle to have any truck with military rulers or dictators —but because that would interfere with its present priorities. India has for decades happily dealt with non-democracies, from Sukarno and Suharto's Indonesia to Idi Amin's Uganda. But today, India is keen to put Islamabad on the defensive, and persuade that India alone in South Asia is a stable, 'responsible', democracy and hence a pre-eminent strategic ally for the only remaining World Power.