On December 8, South Asian countries celebrated the 34th foundation day of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It was founded in 1985 with an idea to integrate the regional economies under an institutional framework and to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the member countries in establishing an environment of peace based on the principles of the United Nations charter and the Non-Alignment Movement.

Despite being South Asia’s premier regional organisation, SAARC has been marred by bilateral political deadlocks and trust deficit among the member countries. Among all, the member countries have failed to come up with a reliable solution to fulfil the pre-requisite condition to conduct annual summits. While SAARC has completed three decades since its inception, only 18 summits have taken place so far, eventually exposing the dearth of trust and political will to make it succeed.

Issues between India and Pakistan have been at the heart of the challenges faced by SAARC today, with the primary reason being the export of state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan. Interestingly, similar organisations such as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations have made tremendous progress at the economic level and in resolving bilateral and multilateral issues under the organisation’s ambit, while SAARC still seems to crawl.

However, recent developments in SAARC don’t augur well for the organisation’s future.

Being the biggest country in terms of geography and economy, India has over the years conveyed its commitment to protect the spirit of SAARC. India shares close historical, socio-cultural, economic and political relations with the other seven member countries. Also, the association not only plays a critical role in guiding India’s external policy framework for South Asia, it has been a prominent actor in framing its domestic policies. In fact, the BJP’s manifesto during the 2014 general election had promised that it would work towards improving India’s ties with its immediate neighbours and make SAARC more effective.

Fresh from his election victory, Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Kathmandu to participate in the 18th SAARC summit in November 2014. During the summit, he had pointed out that “less than 5 per cent of the region’s global trade takes place between us. Even at this modest level, less than 10 per cent of the region’s internal trade takes place under the SAARC Free Trade Area” and conveyed the throbbing reality of “cynicism and scepticism” looming over SAARC. In addition, a categorical remembrance of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai was a strong message conveyed to Pakistan by India.

Pakistan was scheduled to host the 19th SAARC summit in November 2016. However, soon after the September 28 terror attacks on the Indian Army base in Uri, New Delhi decided to boycott the summit. India was joined by Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in condemning Pakistan’s state-sponsored acts of terrorism. Hence, the Islamabad summit was postponed and later cancelled after Pakistan failed to give an assurance of dismantling safe havens for terror groups operational within the country. As per the SAARC charter, a meeting is postponed should any member decline to participate.

The decision had left Islamabad feeling blue and an annoyed Foreign Office said in a statement on 30 September 2016: “India’s decision to abstain from the summit on the basis of unfounded assumption on the Uri incident is futile effort to divert attention of the world from the atrocities perpetrated by India in occupied Kashmir.” The statement echoed previous attempts to shift the blame.

The summit had offered Pakistan a golden opportunity to take the lead by joining the optimism of cooperation that Modi had initiated by inviting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his oath-taking ceremony on May 26, 2014. The invite was followed by Modi’s surprise stopover in Islamabad in December 2015. However, Pakistan blew it.

In order to make up for the cancellation of the 19th SAARC summit, India invited the heads of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Nepal to attend the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit on the sidelines of the 8th BRICS summit in Goa in October 2016. The outreach summit not only provided a chance for South Asian countries to interact bilaterally, the presence of BRICS leaders also gave them an opportunity for extended cooperation with some of the top economies in the world.

Over the past two years, India has stuck to its guns on the precondition that Pakistan should eliminate safe havens provided for terror groups before it can even think of hosting the SAARC summit. However, a series of cross-border infiltrations have put a full stop to every step of progress made over the years.

In this context, Modi’s recent message to SAARC members is important. He has reiterated that “terrorism remains the single largest threat to peace and stability in our region. It is necessary that we eliminate this menace in all forms, without any discrimination, along with its support systems”.

Lately, Pakistan has once again tried to gather diplomatic support to host the SAARC summit. On November 27, a Foreign Office spokesperson said Modi would be invited to Pakistan for the summit. However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj quickly responded that “talks can start the moment Islamabad stops terror activities in India”. She further clarified that New Delhi will not participate in the Islamabad summit.

While Pakistan has failed to create a conducive environment for the summit, the desperation of the new regime led by Imran Khan to host the meeting is obvious because any success in bringing SAARC leaders to Islamabad for the summit will be crucial for Pakistan’s image makeover and hollow commitment towards regionalism.

On the strategic front, the bonhomie between Islamabad and Beijing seems to give Pakistan a sense of illusion of diplomatic strength at the UN and other global platforms. However, despite having succeeded in materialising the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under its ambitious multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, China is well aware of India’s critical absence from the mega project.

Meanwhile, India has been appreciated by global actors, including the US, for its fight against terrorism. The US State Department’s announcement of a $5 million bounty on the terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks complements India’s right track diplomacy.

To conclude, anything that binds a region together is a collaborative effort of member countries. Similarly, regionalism is the end product of the same collaborative effort and cooperation. While South Asia remains politically unstable and economically least integrated, it is in the best interest of countries such as Pakistan to act against terror instead of sheltering the perpetrators on its soil.

Also, considering the potential of South Asian countries in terms of economy and natural resources, SAARC should not be held hostage to bilateral differences and disputes. India’s current ‘neighbourhood first’ policy adheres to the principles of the ‘Gujral doctrine’ of ‘non-reciprocation’ from neighbours. However, ‘non-reciprocation’ may remain ineffective when the likes of Pakistan fail to act.

Rishi Gupta is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for South Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The views expressed here are personal.