FAILURE OF SAARC SUMMIT 2016 - MEMBER COUNTRIES BOYCOTT

In to days world ,international relationships between two countries or group of countries or blocks are dependent on mutual trades . More trade means more prosperity .On the other hand countries under sanctions ,where restrictions are imposed by international community on their trades ,suffers very badly . The latest example is of Iran . At one point of time they were struggling to save their economy in spite of being oil rich country . They suffered  Foreign Exchange crunch very  badly .Russia is also under sanction of western countries and is under pressure.

Infact ,countries have engaged in Trades dated back to thousands  years. Ancient hisrory provided rich examples of it , such as the silk Road - the land ,water trade routes that covered more than four thousand miles and connected Mediterranean with Asia .Now with  help of modern production techniques , highly advanced transportation system ,outsourcing of manufacturing and services and fast industrialization ,the international trade is growing very fast.

International trade is nothing but - is - exchanging of Goods , Services ,Expertise ,Machines , Agro ,  Science  besides sharing of technical/scientific information's between two  countries without hindrances .The international trade contributes for a good part of a country’s gross domestic product. It is also one of important sources of revenue for a developing countries.

In fact  GDP tells the story of financial health of a country .Higher the GDP , more prosper and more developed countries are. As GDP also depend upon the international trade volume .More trade means more inflow of foreign exchange ,more infra structural development ,more employment  et.c

With this concept , for betterment of regional countries , a regional cooperation was envisaged between South Asian nations long back in 1985. SAARC was formally formed in Dhaka in 1985. The HQ is based at Nepal. The objectives of the organization was to promote economic and regional  cooperation and development among the member contries freely.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC ) is the regional intergovernmental organisation and geopolitical union of nations in South Asia. Its members rates are : Afghanistan ,Bangladesh , Bhutan , India , Nepal , Maldives , Pakistan and Sri Lanka . SAARC comprises 3% of the world's area, 21% of the world's population and 9.12% of the global economy, as on 2015.

The 19th SAARC summit , was originally scheduled to be held in Islamabad Pakistan on 15–16 November 2016. The summit was to be attended by the leaders of the eight SAARC member states and representatives of observers and guest states.

Following the rising diplomatic tensions after the Uri terror attack, India announced its boycott of the 19th SAARC Summit, alleging Pakistan's involvement in the same. Later, Bangladesh ,Afghanistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka also pulled out of the summit resulting in an indefinite postponement of the summit. This boycott was in rotest of Pakistan involvement and protection to Terrorits.

Bangladesh also pulled out of the summit in Islamabad. The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry conveyed to the SAARC Chair Nepal that Pakistan's increasing interference in Bangladesh's domestic affairs is not acceptable to the interest of Bangladesh and under such circumstances it is not possible to participate in the summit at Islamabad. Bangladesh, as the initiator of the SAARC process, remains steadfast in its commitment to regional cooperation, connectivity and contacts but believes that these can only go forward in a more congenial atmosphere.

Afghanistan announced its withdrawal from the summit, stating, due to increased level of violence and fighting as a result of imposed terrorism on Afghanistan, their President with  responsibilities as  Commander-in-Chief will be fully engaged, and will not be able to attend the Summit.

Bhutan also withdrew from the summit. The country stated that the "recent escalation of terrorism in the region has seriously compromised the environment for the successful holding.of the summit. The Bhutanese government added that it also shared the concerns of some member states on the "deterioration of regional peace because of terror.

Sri Lanka too, decided to pull out of SAARC Summit, becoming the fifth country to pull out, citing the non-conductive situation in Islamabad. The island nation on September 30, 2016, said in a statement, Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard, the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in the region in a decisive manner.

Nepal, the current chair of SAARC, urged that a conducive environment be created soon to ensure the participation of all member states in the 19th SAARC summit in line with the spirit of the SAARC charter. It also asked the member countries- to ensure that their respective territories should not be used by terrorists for cross border terrorism.The Maldives refrained from boycotting and instead urged a conductive environment be created for the summit.

Inview of terrific Isolation at International level , Pakistan had to postponed the SAARC summit to a future date. It was a diplomatic victory for India who was able to isolate & expose Pakistan to international community as terrorist state.

Well done India . Pakistan deserves this treatment .