 South Asian Union - An utopian idea
 'Soundings on South Asia' by Syed Ali Mujtaba is the latest addition to the corpus of South Asia literature. It presents an excellent snap-shot of the current South Asian scenario, and is clearly based on many years of scholarly academic work, writings and journalism. Despite the Herculean task of assembling the complexities of South Asia within a slim volume, the author has maintained its focus and provided a host of leads for very gripping research by the growing family of South Asia watchers.
Some, like the author's encounters with Sam Huntington and the late Abdul Ghani Lone await further work. On the other hand, his study of declassified UK State papers opens avenues for work by those fortunate to have access to the archives of China, the Former Soviet Union, the US and the UK, the national archives of South Asian nations and insights from the depleting band of the leaders of the day.
The book should therefore be in the reading list of scholars intending to study South Asian relations. The pre-conceived notions and judgments of the author do not reduce the value of the volume. This clearly is the strong point of the book, and makes it stand out.
However, there are a few observations about Soundings on South Asia that deserve consideration. The central thesis of the book, stated at the outset, is that a United States of South Asia is a difficult but achievable goal. This enticing notion seems utopian. It must be remembered that entrenched mindsets are difficult to erase even in economically developed societies - as highlighted by the recent halt to the European Union's march to integration. I agree with the author's view that making SAARC happen would be the essential first step towards a South Asian Union. Yet, faced with the formidable political and other hurdles listed in the book, the lay reader might well conclude that efforts to achieve even the limited economic and social integration objectives of SAARC are doomed.
This inevitably leads to the question whether the failure of SAARC would be a catastrophe for all of South Asia, as 'conventional wisdom' now has it. It is increasingly clear that India has the size and capacity to grow without the support of her neighbours, and will therefore be unaffected. Pakistan can partner Turkey (whose EU membership aspiration is so uncertain), Iran (when it is less radical), Afghanistan (after it settles down) and Iraq (after peace is restored), and form a formidable and viable group sometime in the future. Bangladesh can follow Myanmar into ASEAN, provided it jettisons the xenophobic elements in its polity, and makes itself ASEAN compatible. It may even be welcomed into ASEAN as a balance to Singapore's influence. While the Maldives can try and activate linkages to the Gulf and join the GCC, only Nepal and Bhutan - and Sri Lanka to a degree - really have an incentive to make SAARC a success.
Therefore, the challenge before the members of SAARC is to individually determine whether their national interests establish that the loss of growth opportunities presented by the grouping is worth the price of demanding satisfaction on India-related issues first. This is clearly a difficult choice for smaller members - Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives. Unsurprisingly, their track record bears this out, and also explains much of recent Indian foreign policy strategy.
History suggests that international bonds that require surrenders of national sovereignty have poor prospects if they are imposed top-down. Further, shared history and culture are not strong adhesives if they are tinged with memories of violence, exploitation and conquest. Enduring bonds can only be built on a foundation of a continuum of peaceful, benign and mutually profitable intercourse.
Given all this, I suggest that notions of accommodating Afghanistan and Myanmar within the SAARC family are ideas whose days are long past. Moreover, noting that anything emanating from India on South Asian bonding will be misunderstood, I rather feel that it would be best to quietly await developments without advocating any specific goal, roadmap or remedy.
However, these ideas do not rob the book of its insights into the social and political terrain of South Asia. It merits periodic updating to accommodate the constantly changing regional dynamics. That would also provide an opportunity to iron out the few factual and perceptual inaccuracies that have crept in, and the numerous instances of poor editing that somewhat irritate a reader.
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Raman,
VSM*
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Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Raman, VSM, is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, University College, London, and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He is a keen student of global and South Asian regional affairs. |
Other reviews of 'Soundings on South Asia' has appeared in 'Khaleej Times', Dubai, 'Dawn', Karachi, South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), New Delhi,
www.indolink.com, California, and can be accessed by clicking the links given below.
http://khaleejtimes.com/Displayarticle.asp?section=opinion&xfile=data/opinio
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive/050612/books8.htm
http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers14%5Cpaper1396.html
http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleB.php?id=052405054932
Soundings on South Asia
Author: Syed Ali Mujtaba
Publisher: New Dawn Press Inc., New Delhi-110020
ISBN: ISBN: 1932705406
Price: Rs 500, $24.95
 About
the author:
Syed Ali Mujtaba, a journalist, was Jefferson fellow at East West Centre, Hawaii USA (2003). He has taken his PhD from South Asia Division, SIS, JNU, New
Delhi. He is author of the book " The Demand for Partition of India and British Policy
1940-45.". He is a prolific commentator on South Asian issues and has contributed chapters to edited books on South
Asia. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com |
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