The British colonizers had rightly referred to the South Asian region as the “Jewel in the Crown” in the late 19th century, as they encountered and exploited a region enormously enriched with natural resources, fertile lands, water resources, a strategic location, and, above all, a vast population. Who knew that, more than a century later, much of this potential would remain underutilized and would fail to be harnessed to address the socio-economic problems and promote the collective development of the region?
South Asia accounts for roughly one-third (33.4%) of the world’s income-poor and extremely poor population, ranking second behind Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Bank, a disproportionate share of the population remains socially deprived and vulnerable to shocks such as inflation and health crises. The state of education is even worse, with over half of the female population being illiterate. Living standards remain poor, with people deprived of clean drinking water, proper housing, safe sanitation and adequate nutrition.
But here is the paradox. South Asia is considered one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. The region comprises two countries with demonstrated nuclear capabilities and membership of the nuclear club. Each country in the region contributes distinct strengths to South Asia’s overall potential. The region houses roughly two billion people, accounting for around 25 percent of the world’s population, with a median age of 28 and hundreds of millions of adolescents and young adults under the age of 24. Moreover each country has a potential to contribute substantially to the region’s development: India holds a strong IT sector, pharmaceuticals and a vast consumer market, Pakistan has fertile agricultural lands, a strategic geography and mineral resources, Bangladesh is rich in textile manufacturing, Nepal has extensive hydropower potential and Himalayan water resources, Bhutan provides rich biodiversity, Sri Lanka offers maritime connectivity, tourism and skilled services, Maldives is a globally recognized tourism destination and strengthens blue economy and Afghanistan with mineral wealth and acting as a land bridge to Central Asia.
Now, a question comes to fore, “if the region has such an enormous potential that has the capacity to advance technologically, mitigate food insecurity, diversify exports, promote sustainable tourism, and above all, transit trade within the region, why has this potential not been harnessed for the collective benefit of the region?”, the answer is brief: it is the lack of regional cooperation. I will discuss three main reasons why a region so enrichly endowed with resources has failed to translate its potential into collective progress.
The first and paramount reason is the persistent regional rivalry between India and Pakistan. Both countries are key members of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), an organization set for regional cooperation. To facilitate regional trade and enhance economic cooperation, South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) was created in 2004, which has failed to achieve the purpose and has become dormant, because of lack of regional cooperation. The inter-regional trade among the Soutn Asian countries is around 5%, which is less than any other region of the world. If ASEAN can boost their trade to 25% and European Union to 60%, then why can’t regional rivalries be set aside to extract maximum benefit from SAARC.
The second reason behind the lack of regional cooperation is the megalomaniac posture of India. India considers herself the sole power of the region, looking down upon the other relatively compact countries with less economic development. After the failure of Operation Sandoor in 2025, India visited several countries across the globe, to spread her false narrative but not a single visit was made to South Asian states. This sense of superiority has cost the regional integration and cooperation.
Thirdly, the pervasive atmosphere of distrust is one of the paramount reasons for cooperation deficit. The historical suspicions trigger it, with every country’s move, even if made in goodwill embraces a strategic skepticism. The region has been marred by various rivalries and border disputes i-e, India and Pakistan conflict over the Kashmir and a high altitude military stand-off over Siachin Glacier, India and China rift over Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pardesh, India and Nepal border disputes, and some other disputes between India and Bangladesh with increase in bitter relations since Sheikh Haseena Wajid’s refuge in India. Apart from that, there had been bitter relations between Sri Lanka and India in the past, which makes them hard to trust one another moves.
A pragmatic solution is not to eradicate all disputes of south asia altogether, its neither intended nor practical. Let’s shift our attention to European Union for a while, there had been a historical bloodshed, massacre, genocides, holocaust, devastating wars and what not, but its utterly astounding to register that the intra- European Union Trade is around 60% of the total trade of Europe. They made it by strengthening economic ties, removing internal tariffs, harmonizing rules, institutional integration and entailing dispute resolution mechanisms because they had realized that continued rivalry was more costly than cooperation. If the countries that experienced centuries of warfare could build economic interdependence, what prevents South Asian countries from doing the same?