South Asia forms a single, uninterrupted mass of land area of nearly 4.5 million sq. km which is home to a quarter of the world’s population. The region faces many problems such as illiteracy, a low status of women, child malnutrition, low wages, poor health services, heavy external debt, unfinished agrarian reforms, high military spending and involuntary displacement.

Regional cooperation is becoming decisive in many respects. The key to successful regional cooperation is the opening of communication channels between the peoples of member countries, preventing and screening negative feedback to the people.

The establishment of SAARC has not been able to satisfy the expectations of one and a half billion people. There has been much disappointment because the regional cooperation to facilitate exchange and mobility among the people has yet to be a mainstream activity in the official agenda of SAARC.

Focus has to be shifted from rigid state-centric ideas to more people-centric thoughts. There is much talk of trans-border issues but there is no guarantee of democracy through which people can exercise their own rights.

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