Author(s): Anupam Agarwal and Deepak Jain
SAARC, created in 1985, has had limited influence in boosting regional cooperation when compared to similar other regional alliances like the European Union, African Union (AU), and ASEAN etc. The paper seeks to assess the present state of India’s relations with its neighbours including China and other global powers, identify the contours of re-orientation and formulate a strategy to enhance SAARC’s relevance and use it as a fulcrum to enhance India’s international standing. An informative approach has been applied to establish the present state of bilateral relations with the neighbours by evaluating several thesis, semi-structured articles, reports etc. The data augmenting the areas of discontentment / concerns amongst the member nations of SAARC including China, West Asia, South-East Asia and QUAD was gathered, analysed and contours of re-orientation defined, which require to be addressed as part of the reset strategy. SAARC, since its inception and consequent resurgence has primarily been taken hostage by the age-old seeds of continued conflicts and disagreements between the member nations, especially India and Pakistan, the two South Asian Goliaths. India needs to act swiftly and tacitly, examine renewing bonds between India with Pakistan and restoring normalcy, through negotiations, dialogues and Soft Power, boost Infrastructure Development, undertake Economic Revival, Health Sector and Food Security. Simultaneously, India must keep other options like ASEAN, QUAD, BBIN, BIMSTEC, BRICS, etc open, to enhance its stature and use as a springboard for its resurgence. The findings indicate that SAARC members especially India, as the Big Brother need to take pro-active stance with evolving, alternative, out of the box and innovative steps, may be inside and outside SAARC Charter, to highlight geo-strategic importance of SAARC nations and further enhance its international standing.