SAARC Summit: the Same Old Story By Deepak Parvatiyar November 28, 2014 Ever since the first summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 8th December 1985, SAARC has failed to live up to the high expectations that it had generated for a regional political and economical cooperation in South Asia. The forum’s contribution has been dismal largely because of the tense Indo-Pak relationship in the region. Despite the free trade pact of 2006 between the eight member nations – India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives – the member nations do hardly five percent of their total trade with each other! The Kathmandu SAARC Summit: Low on Deliverance The 18th SAARC meet in Kathmandu, held after a gap of three years, too was not much different in terms of deliverance and agreement as just one of the three issues tabled there could be reached because of Pakistan’s veto. (A cons
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