Postponed summit

. PHOTO: AFP

This is the fifth time that India has been the cause of a Saarc summit postponement. In 2003, too, the conference scheduled in Islamabad had to be called off because New Delhi refused to confirm its participation.

Wednesday's Indian decision came in the wake of political developments in Nepal, but the official reason given by New Delhi for its decision was the security situation in its "neighbourhood".

This was a setback to Bangladesh, which has spent millions of taka for the preparation of the summit. Press reports say that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not wish to sit at the same forum with King Gyanendra, who declared an emergency in his kingdom after dismissing the government. India also cited the security situation at Dhaka, only to reverse its saying by sugar coating it a little bit on Feb, 05.

But, it's too little and too late.

India's argument does not hold much water, because in every Saarc summit Indian leaders had no qualms about sitting with the king of Bhutan, which is lagging behind Nepal in terms of political development.

Besides, in all international groupings of which India is a member- say, the non-aligned forum- New Delhi have had interactions with some of the world's autocrats. The decision, thus, to stay away from Dhaka lacks substance politically and morally.

Unfortunately, Indian media has often been critical of Bangladesh in the recent years and has campaigned in the past against Bangladesh on many issues including but not limited to border infiltration, border security, push-pull scenarios, religious fundamentalism etc. In comparison, Bangladeshi media, I would say is more positive about its neighbour.

Political parties in Bangladesh, regardless of their own differences, understand that India is a powerful and big neighbour and simply have no choice other than doing business with it. But that should not be taken as granted by the Indian authorities. Mutual respect should be there for neighbours, regardless of their size, religion and population mix.

After the last year's elections in India, the Bangladesh's foreign minister went to New Delhi for improving relations and to come to better terms with the new government there. This was a positive gesture from Bangladesh. But India has let Bangladesh down by withdrawing from the Saarc summit.

The decision of the Indian government not to attend the 13th Saarc summit has disheartened people from all walks of life here in Bangladesh. When all the preparations were complete and Saarc delegates started arriving in Dhaka, the Indian decision surprised not only Bangladesh but also all six other member countries that were looking forward to attending the summit.

"Deteriorating security in Dhaka" and "political developments in Nepal" are the reasons that made India to restrain itself from attending the summit. "Unacceptable" and "unwarranted" are probably the best words to describe such an irrational excuse. With Dhaka going in "yellow alert" days before the summit and with more than 2,000 Rab (Rapid Action Battalion) personnel along with detectives, dog squads and Armed Police Battalion guarding the city, it is hard to understand why India would be concerned about "security" when all other member nations were satisfied. And as far as Nepal's matter is concerned, it is totally that nation's internal affair and being concerned about such an issue also goes against the Saarc Charter that says, "Bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from deliberations". Hence the question comes what is the grudge of Indian government against Saarc? Is it security in Dhaka or development in Nepal? Or is it the SAFTA, that was to be signed in the summit, that requires India to lessen some of its dominance over Saarc nations?

In my short span of a life of 17 years, I do admit that I do not have much knowledge of international politics. But from what I have seen I can say that India has been uncooperative in widening regional cooperation amongst Saarc countries. The bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan has long overshadowed the summit, making it even ineffective to some extent.

Ashfaque Kabir A-levels, Scholastica

I was very embarrassed to hear that the Saarc summit was postponed. The reasons which India gave were unusual. It was confirmed that the Nepalese King would attend this summit, and massive security measures were taken. The local political developments were not going to influence any international conference.

Tahsin Hyder Maple Leaf International School, Dhanmondi, Dhaka

They have succeeded in their mission, no matter at what cost, to stop the Saarc summit from being held in our country and must be laughing gleefully. We have plunged into a dark abyss, all our hopes have been dashed to pieces. We were looking forward with so much expectation from the summit.

India's decision not to attend the summit is regrettable and the reason put forward is not convincing. All other countries were happy with the arrangements made by the Bangladesh government including the security measures, but India was not happy and gave lame excuses for not attending the summit.

Nur Jahan Chittagong