'Let's have a Saarc visa'

Visa-free movement among South Asian nations is the key to achieving greater regional collaboration and prosperity, said academics and security experts during a plenary session of the South Asian Economic Summit in Dhaka on Sunday.

They also sought a conflict resolution mechanism for this region, as the prosperity of people is more vital than the prospect of becoming a superpower.

"The Indian Ocean is the most nuclearised, and South Asia is the most militarised region in the world. Therefore, I am suggesting Saarc has to be survived and reframed," Brigadier Gen M Sakhawat Hussain, a security analyst, said in the event titled "Geo-strategic factors underpinning contemporary trends in South Asian cooperation" on the last day of the two-day summit in a city hotel.                                                                    

"A conflict resolution mechanism has to be brought into the region, like Asean or the EU. Otherwise, there is no future for regional cooperation," he added.

Emphasising free movement, he said, "Let's have a Saarc visa."

As the chair, Prof Rounaq Jahan said, "There is a growing demand from people for visa-free movement within the region, which would facilitate progress in various sectors."   

A participant at the event raised the issue of the lengthy visa processing times for Bangladeshis seeking Indian visas, which can take up to three to four months. He questioned how Saarc can effectively foster regional cooperation and growth under such circumstances.

According to the Indian official data, a total of 13,70,821 Bangladeshi tourists visited India during the January-August period of 2023, making Bangladesh the leading source country for tourism during that time.

Among the Saarc countries, currently, there is an 'open' border practice between India and Nepal under the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which the two countries signed in 1950.

The citizens of both countries are allowed to cross their shared borders without passport or visa restrictions.

The speakers at the event highlighted the persistent shortcomings in regional connectivity, particularly the lack of direct air links between Bangladesh and both Pakistan and Afghanistan. This deficiency has hindered the anticipated growth and progress within the region, they said.

However, under the influence of the US and China, the issue of India-Pakistan rivalry has also been raised in the talks, where the speakers identified it as one of the major reasons behind the dysfunctionality of Saarc or greater regional cooperation.

Syed Kaleem Imam, former federal secretary of the Pakistan government, said, "Larger nations like India bear a greater responsibility to ensure that no country within the region is left behind. This necessitates enhanced cooperation, coexistence, and unity among South Asian nations."

Dr Swarnim Wagle, member of the Federal Parliament of Nepal; Dr Praveen Jha, professor of School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India, also spoke at the event.

'Undocumented regional migration'

Meanwhile, speakers in another parallel session titled "Cross-border labour market management" of the summit on Sunday said that there is a large scale of undocumented regional migration happening in South Asia, which is not reflected in official numbers.

Poverty is the primary cause of unsafe migration where human trafficking is a major concern.

"A well-harmonised accreditation of skills of the workers in this region could allow them to find job opportunities in cross-border labour markets," said Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, a professor of Department of Economics at Dhaka University. 

"There should be a common agreement between South Asian countries regarding what should be the minimum standard for worker benefits, such as wages and working conditions," she added.

The speakers suggested a study to examine the structure of the labour market in South Asia.