Notes Peace Initiatives & Demilitarisation in South Asia

Abstract

Much before the end of cold war in 1990s, the nations and people of the world had realized that the human progress and well-being could only be achieved by economic development alone in the world’s socio-political environment. It was also assessed and accepted that for economic development, regional trade and socio-political cooperation has a significant value. So during the last decade of 20th century a number of regional alliances came into being, like NAFTA, ASEAN, and European Union etc. These alliances proved to be of pivotal importance in building better relations among the states of the region and in bringing socioeconomic prosperity among the people of the region. South Asian countries also realized the importance of these alliances and tried to join hands in the shape of SAARC (South Asian Alliance for Regional Cooperation) in 1984 but this alliance has been continuously ineffective since the day of its inception due to the hostile relationship between the two important countries of the region i.e. India and Pakistan. There are numerous other sources of dissonance between the states of South Asia, for example India is a secular state while its neighbours in a way or other give primacy to religion in state politics. The Indian federation is organized along linguistic lines and affords a large measure of autonomy to its states, while its neighbours have more centralized regimes dominated by the majority ethnic group. India and Sri Lanka have fairly well established democratic traditions; authoritarian regimes have tended to dominate other states. The organizing principles of one state are viewed as a threat by another. Moreover, authoritarian regimes, which lack legitimacy and have no popular support, become more dependent on external help. They are thus more amenable to pressure and manipulation from outside the region. Secondly, the internal and external conflicts of the states of the region have also played an important role in making SAARC an ineffective organisation.