Time to Redeem SAARC

The devastating flood that has inundated most part of the provinces of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh has rendered fourteen million homeless in Pakistan. The danger of water-borne disease threatens the life of many who are currently staying in temporary shelters and under open skies. The United Nations has called upon the international community to donate generously. However, as of now, it can only meet 40 per cent of the estimated budget that it requires to meet some basic needs like food, health, nutrition, shelter, water and sanitation. To assess the situation UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon visited the flood affected areas. He said “The magnitude of the problem; the world has never seen such a disaster. It’s much beyond anybody’s imagination.”

The international community has already committed 200 million dollars. The United States – a country hated the most in Pakistan – has pledged the largest aid so far amounting to US$90 million. US marines and soldiers are involved in flood relief work apart from Western NGOs. Unfortunately, the oil rich Middle East countries have contributed very little towards flood relief in Pakistan, attracting criticism in Pakistani media. UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has already received $182 million, which is about 40 per cent of the needs that UN has asked for; it has estimated an aid requirement of $ 459 million. India has announced $5 million in assistance to Pakistani flood victims, though this is yet to be accepted by Islamabad. India has promised more help depending on Pakistan’s requirement. Pakistan has started importing potatoes from India, fearing that the flood would affect the kharif corp. Already 25 truck loads of potatoes have reached Lahore through the Wagah border. The World Bank has estimated that $1 billion worth crops has been ruined by this flood. The fear that food scarcity and displacement may lead to social unrest is real.

While the world community is trying its best to provide help in spite of aid fatigue, SAARC is conspicuous by its absence. There has been no official statement by the current chair of SAARC and there is no effort to mobilize funds for a fellow member country at a time of such a natural disaster. At the bilateral level India has offered $5 million, Bangladesh has announced an aid of $ 2 million, Nepal has committed $1.3 million (10 million Nepali rupees) and Afghanistan has offered $1 million as aid to Pakistan’s flood victims. Sri Lanka has sent relief material and doctors to help flood victims. The Confederation of India’s Voluntary Association – a civil society initiative – has decided to send 400 Indian doctors to work among the flood victims in Sindh and provide medical treatment that people badly need.

A question that begs an answer here is why all this aid cannot be channelled through SAARC. Bilateral aid is important but if the countries want to revitalize SAARC they should have used the organization in helping with flood relief work. At the sixteenth SAARC Summit meeting held in Thimpu, the leaders of the region emphasized the “need for more efficient, focused, time-bound and people-centric activities…” However the current inaction of SAARC reflects the fact that it has again failed to rise to the occasion. This summit declaration mentioned public diplomacy as one of the important activities that the organization needs to undertake. The flood situation in Pakistan offered SAARC an opportunity to regain some of the lost ground in connecting with the people and ‘living up to the hopes and aspirations of one fifth of humanity’. The Heads of States’ disillusion and frustration with SAARC was apparent during the Thimpu summit. The same leaders who devoted part of their speeches to drive home the point that the regional organization is ineffective in addressing people’s aspiration did not rise to the occasion to provide a leadership role and organize relief during this worst human crisis in eighty years.

SAARC has a Disaster Management Centre that was approved by the Heads of states in its 13th summit. One of the objectives of this Centre is to create a regional response mechanism dedicated to disaster preparedness, emergency relief and rehabilitation to ensure an immediate response. It is painful to see how this has remained yet another instance of declaratory agenda rather than any meaningful action on ground. It goes without saying that a time has come for SAARC to have a disaster relief fund, a corpus that can be utilized to deal with such calamities.

Ironically, in almost all the summit meetings as well as the Charter, SAARC pays glorified tributes to the people of South Asia. Yet the organization has been the most insensitive in times of such national calamities. The organization has been missing both in action and words. Such a state of affairs defeats the very concept of regional cooperation and does not help in forging a regional identity which is essential for any meaningful cooperation.

If SAARC wants to make itself relevant to the people of South Asia it needs to build its connection with the people. Only when SAARC does something visible on ground can it make its existence meaningful. Otherwise, it will be derided as serving only a photo opportunity for the heads of state in beautiful locales making politically correct pledges embedded in socio-economic jargon.

What should be done? SAARC should immediately convene a meeting at an appropriate level and take stock of the humanitarian situation in Pakistan. It is important for fellow member countries to pledge relief material as well as aid based on the affordability of the individual countries. SAARC needs to send a medical team drawn from member countries as well as volunteers who must extend a helping hand in the distribution of relief as well as rescue operations. All these activities need to be carried out under the SAARC banner. It is also time to brand SAARC. All the pledges and help should be channelled through SAARC and packaged in packets that bear the logo of the regional organization. Volunteers and doctors can be made to wear SAARC badges while working among the flood affected people. This is important on three counts. First, such branding would make SAARC’s contribution visible to the people of South Asia for whom apparently the organization is meant. Second, it would create a connection and bonding with the people, which, the organisation has been lacking in its twenty five years of existence. Third, the SAARC forum will also take care of Pakistan’s reluctance to accept Indian aid.