Dear Editor, I would like to express my deep concern regarding SAARC Summit through the medium of your esteemed daily newspaper. SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is an organisation of eight countries including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Afghanistan who joined organisation in 2007 having permanent Headquarters at Kathmandu (Nepal) and was established on December 8, 1985. After the formation of SAARC, the member nations agreed to cooperate in areas of Agriculture, Social development, Education and Culture, Biotechnology, Economic, trade and finance, Ecology, Science and technology, Information, Communication and Media, Poverty alleviation, Security aspects, People to people contact, Funding mechanism & Social development. The 19th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is to be held next week in Islamabad. The summit was not initially scheduled for January 2022 and was supposed to be held in November 2016, but was postponed due to attack on India’s Army camp on September 18, 2016 in Uri, Kashmir, wherein Pakistan’s involvement was surfaced and latter Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh also pulled out themselves from Summit meeting, which was to be held in Islamabad on November 15-19, 2016. It is now a second attempt of the member countries to hold SAARC and this time, with Pakistan reiterating its invitation and I think, New Delhi should join the Summit virtually, if not wants to attend in person, as SAARC consists of 8 countries. I think the Summit would essentially be fruitless if any of its major members were not present. Moreover, this invitation has been extended to all countries and presence of all members is of particular significance this year due to important agenda items of relevance. This year, a number of geopolitical developments have occurred in the region that impact all surrounding countries. It would be in the interest of all countries in the region to engage in these issues and even if they disagree, they should negotiate and indulge in dialogue. There are existential threats facing region for example ISIS has reared its ugly head new threat of Omicron virus and others so many international issues. The brunt of climate change is estimated to be quite harsh on the South Asian region due to its coastal vulnerability. Perhaps, most notable of all, Afghanistan once again after twenty years sees the rule of the Taliban, and this enormous political development has serious consequences on the monetary, financial, and political and security conditions of all member countries. India has played an integral part before in SAARC.I view it as an important organisation for enhancing regional cooperation that should not be set aside for selfish deviant motives by countries. Last but not the least, I hope that India will also pay heed to greater good and security of the region and attend the conference. Mool Raj, Doda
