The 19th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was scheduled to take place in November 2016 in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, but it was postponed due to tense bilateral relations between the two most powerful members of the organization – India and Pakistan. Although more than three years have passed since then, the summit is yet to be rescheduled due to the same reason for which the 2016 meeting was cancelled. As no visible sign of improvement in strained Indo–Pakistani relations is visible, the summit is unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future. And, even if the summit is rescheduled, it is unlikely that SAARC will be as effective as those of other regional organizations, that is the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), unless fundamental changes occur in the region's international relations.

Except for a few low-level functions at the SAARC secretariat in Kathmandu, the organization is largely stagnant now. Since 2016, the regional body has not undertaken any substantive work to advance regional cooperation for which it was created. Indeed, the postponement of summits in the past is only one manifestation of its shortcomings – there are many other failings, as will be discussed in this book, which have prompted observers to raise questions about the relevance and the future of SAARC.

Joining the global trend for regionalism, seven countries in South Asia – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – launched a regional organization (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) in 1985. Since its inception, three and a half decades have passed; while it has accrued some intangible and lowlevel tangible benefits, it has yet to deliver substantive, visible material benefits to the people of the region. Most importantly, it has yet to realize the goals that were set out at its inception. SAARC has grown consistently over the years by extending its scope for cooperation, which gives an impression that it is a vibrant and successful regional institution. However, a careful assessment would indicate that its achievements, as one observer has put it, are mostly ‘on paper’.