IDSA South Asia Conference Urges Policy Makers to Adopt Cooperative Security Approach in the Region

November 16, 2011

New Delhi, Nov. 16, 2011: A ‘three-tier approach’ involving greater interaction at the government, track 1.5 and track 2 levels was advocated to create conditions for security cooperation among the South Asian nations. The recommendation was made during the concluding day of the 5th International Conference on South Asia on Cooperative Security, organised by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

Earlier, while inaugurating the conference, Defence Minister, Mr AK Antony, had said that in South Asia, India is “willing to go the extra mile for the sake of peace and security, even on non-reciprocal basis if required.”

Taking a holistic view on security issues – traditional and non-traditional – the panel of representatives from all South Asian countries strongly advocated the setting up of inter-government mechanisms outside SAARC processes to address issues of regional security.

It was also noted that while cooperative security may not eliminate legacy issues left over from history, it would certainly play a major role in mitigating tension in the region. The approach will work even in improving Indo-Pak tensions.

Recommendations were made to create a Task Force on regional cooperative security and to strengthen the roles of think tanks, academics and networks to assist in the process of creating public awareness and reaching out to policy makers.

The track 2 conference concluded that non-traditional security issues like security, disaster management, climate change water and food security etc could not be looked at in isolation from traditional security issues. Hard core traditional security issues like nuclear, military and territorial matters also need to be discussed regularly.

The participants stressed on the need to bring about a change in the mind set of the decision makers while exploring the idea of Cooperative Security in South Asia region, beset with numerous conflicts.

The cooperative security issues have earlier been taken up at the SAARC conference and 5th South Asia Conference further supplements the security issues in the region.

The South Asia Conference is an annual event organised by the IDSA. Over the years, the conference has emerged as a useful platform for frank and candid exchanges among the region’s experts and scholars on the region’s problems.

Fifth in a row, the theme for this year’s conference was “Cooperative Security Framework for South Asia”. Scholars and experts from India, Pakistan Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in the conference.