Article by Mr M Zakaria, SAF-Scholar at UMIKS :A people centric proposal to SAARC

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In the media Published in Dhaka, Bangladesh - 7th December 2014

Mr M Zakaria is SAF Scholar at UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies at Kashmir University, Srinagar, India.

An Article by Mr Zakaria Mohammad:- A people centric proposal to SAARC


Mr M Zakaria, SAF Scholar at UMIKS Uploaded by Sunil Binjola
18th SAARC summit is going to be held on 26th November at Kathmandu, Nepal. The Eight highest level leaders are meeting there for two days. Many events and issues have been discussed in previous 17 summits for last 29 years. But what is the output in terms of integrating South Asia as a region- that is an important question. Countries agreed upon many issues like environment, trade, culture, education etc. But, still SAARC is being treated as the less integrated region comparing to all other regions of the globe. Despite of having tremendous cultural, geographical and historical potential experts are telling that the integration of SAARC is now a ‘political romanticism’. Kipping all the saying a side, above all, the Kathmandu summit is undoubtedly a positive sign for South Asian integration. And of course every summit comes out with a new declaration which can give us a new direction of thinking. But, the question of judgment, as a student of South Asia Studies, is whether this declaration is going to serve the marginalized people any longer or it is going to serve the ‘elite’s interests. If it favors the ‘aam admi’ than people also will feel interest to look at the SAARC and to get the follow up of it. That is not happening. So, visibly people do not have much interest in the functions of SAARC as they are having in the functioning of their Panchayats.

The countries of south Asia had almost same colonial and pre-colonial history, same culture and geography. Though separate identities of the countries emerged due to some political reasons in 1940s but the commonalities of their history can’t be neglected. So, the people of South Asia are having the potential of getting connected beyond borders. That is why the archeological sites and religious shrines of all the countries of South Asia are accepted as holy places for the peoples. All classes of people move one corner to another for these holy places. But, practically these places are also demarcated by the countries. An Indian citizen has to pay Rs-20 to enter into Tajmahal but, all other people have to pay Rs-500. There is no equity among the peoples of South Asia. Same system is in every archeological site in India like Mohabalipuram (Chennai), Kutub Minar (Delhi), Humauns Tomb (Delhi) and what not? The interesting irony is, South Asian people are no longer different from the Indian citizens by face. So, none of the Indian authority can identify a non-Indian but South Asian citizen while he/she is visiting these places keeping his/her passport hidden. And same thing is true for all other countries. So, why don’t we equalize the entry fees of all the archeological sites in South Asia for all peoples of the region? It will, make the people accountable to show their identities and of course it will be helpful for ‘people to people’ contract through cultural, archeological and religious pilgrims. This is my proposal to the leaders of South Asia.

Email : zpolashju@gmail.com

Author: A Bangladeshi student at UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Institute of Kashmir Studies in University of Kashmir.


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