By Sardar Khan Niazi

The leaders of South Asia stand at a crucial juncture. In a region home to nearly two billion people, where over half still struggle with poverty, the time has come to make a collective choice: to further fragment South Asia or to reinvigorate its only homegrown platform for regional cooperation — the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). There are renewed murmurs about establishing a new regional bloc to replace SAARC, citing its inactivity since the 2014 summit. However, this thinking is not just shortsighted — it is potentially harmful. SAARC is not defunct because of its institutional design; it is hamstrung by unresolved bilateral disputes, most notably between India and Pakistan. To suggest that a new bloc can avoid such issues is to misunderstand the very roots of South Asia’s interconnected challenges. SAARC is not just a diplomatic forum; it is a reflection of a shared history, geography, and culture. It is the only regional body tailored specifically to South Asia’s unique needs. Its frameworks — from the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the SAARC Development Fund (SDF), to the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme — are already in place, though underutilized. Dismantling SAARC in favor of a new bloc would mean discarding decades of regional institution-building, only to start again from scratch. Take SAFTA, for example. Intra-regional trade in South Asia languishes at a mere five percent, largely due to political barriers. However, this is not a failure of SAFTA; it is a failure of political will. Similarly, the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme, which currently allows only a few hundred visas per country per year, has the potential to revolutionize regional mobility if expanded. A common SAARC tourist visa, long proposed but never implemented, could transform tourism, people-to-people contact, and business across the region. SAARC has proven its worth in the past. It has helped ease tensions following conflicts, including the Kargil war and cross-border standoffs. If SAARC had remained active, its regular summits could have provided an institutional mechanism to defuse the recent India-Pakistan crisis that once again threatened regional peace. Nevertheless, SAARC’s greatest strength lies not in grand diplomatic gestures, but in its people-centric initiatives — student exchanges, health clinics, shared disaster response mechanisms. Imagine a South Asian University with campuses in Kathmandu, Colombo, Dhaka, and Islamabad; students learning from one another across borders, forming friendships that transcend national narratives. These are not dreams — they are possible within SAARC’s framework, if political will aligns. Reviving SAARC is not nostalgia — it is pragmatic policymaking. ASEAN has shown that regional forums can function even amidst bilateral disagreements. South Asia should take note. Political rivalries must be separated from regional cooperation. Development cannot wait for diplomacy to catch up. There is some cause for cautious optimism. India’s External Affairs Minister recently remarked that SAARC is not off the table. Pakistan has reiterated its commitment. Other member states — Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan — have consistently backed SAARC’s vision. All continue to maintain a diplomatic presence at its Kathmandu Secretariat. The structure exists. The frameworks are ready. What is missing is courage — the political courage to put people before politics. In a world increasingly defined by blocs and collective action, South Asia can ill afford to remain fragmented. SAARC may be dormant, but it is not dead. Its revival will require political courage, mutual respect, and a willingness to put people’s interests above national egos. The costs of continued inaction are simply too high. The people of South Asia are not demanding the impossible. They want peace, prosperity, and the freedom to move, study, and work across borders. SAARC revival should not be delayed any further.