A quasi-curfew like situation was imposed in the city to deter the free movement of people and goods and services across several pockets of the city. Educational institutions were closed down during the summit and normal life remained disrupted for a week or so. There was no transaction in the largest wholesale market of the city as the market stands very close to the Sonargaon Hotel. The government and its supporters are, of course, happy to note that the success came "at any cost" and at long last. But the sample of people we met in the aftermath of the summit aired their anguish on the grounds of the heavy costs, in their opinion, outweighing the benefits from such a summit.

In the earlier meetings in Dhaka -- and also elsewhere -- we noticed how students stayed on the road sides to greet the guests of honour upon their arrivals to this city. This time we saw how people were pushed inside their houses to make safe the high- sounding summit. The Saarc leaders might be surprised to have noticed that one of the most populous cities of the world was turned into a barren city in the wake of the summit.

We share the concern that Saarc leaders needed more security this time than ever before because of the growing attacks and threats of the terrorists in this part of the world. In fact, almost all the countries of the region have been hit by gruesome blasts that tend to kill innocent people and destroy valuable assets and wealth. The imperatives of a tight security net were, thus, obvious as the same summit was postponed once due to security reasons, especially from the Indian side. But whether the successes of the summit were worth the sufferings of the people is a million dollar question to the commoners.

Saarc summits have often been sarcastically called "fashion shows" or "Saarc-circuses"! Truly speaking, since its inception in the 1980s, Saarc could never emerge as an institution of regional cooperation to bring some good to the most populous as well as the most pervasively poverty-stricken part of the world, South Asia. The reasons are not far to seek. First, economic issues per se never dominated the initial deliberations of the summits. It is, perhaps, only from the 10th or so round that the solutions of economic crisis in the region got prominence. Second, political tensions between Pakistan and India mounted over the years to make Saarc almost non-functional as a body of regional cooperation. And finally, the alleged lukewarm attitude of the largest partner of Saarc, India, in making it functional also contributed a lot to the concerns.

This time in Dhaka, for this summit to succeed, the economy had to incur enormous costs not only in terms of the amount spent on the overall arrangements for the Saarc summit, but also in terms of the forgone economic opportunities during the period. As noted before, the government had to impose a quasi-curfew in the city for three days, thus paralyzing the mobility of people and movement of goods and services to and from the city. Based on some crude assumptions, the output loss could be as high as Tk.

300 crores in three days! The amount might sound meager as far as the Saarc summit is concerned, but the same amount, if spent to tackle the monga- menace in Rangpur, would probably sound like a considerable sum!

The purpose of this note is not to negate the role of a regional cooperation body like Saarc. We fully support the view that in this age of regional blocks, Saarc should emerge as a bargaining bank for this region. There should be more trade and investment within the Saarc countries. Political rivalry should be replaced with economic complementarities to pull the economies out of the perilous poverty trap. The successes should outweigh the sufferings inflicted upon people in holding the summit.

It is true that the summit generated a few more meaningful words from the Saarc leaders. For example, the agenda pertaining to poverty reduction and free trade -- albeit a reiteration -- seems to be a call of the hour. But what had been missing in the past years is the act of turning words into actions. For example, the issue of Safta dominated the Islamabad summit, but regarding the rules of origin, negative lists, compensation, etc not much headway could be in evidence over the years. Given the political tensions prevailing and mistrust created among some members of Saarc, how far the words will translate into actions is an important question to ponder with. We can only hope that the sufferings from the summit would be duly compensated by the successes of Saarc in the realm of poverty reduction and free trade. Let us bury religious, linguistic and other barriers to form a regional forum with free movement of goods and services so that South Asia writes off its identity as a pocket of the poorest people on earth. That needs more dynamism in leadership, farsightedness, and commitment to the cause of the poor people. That also demands democracy and good governance within the countries concerned.

A permanent secretariat for Saarc with required resources is a must in facing the goals. The invitations extended to China and Japan as observers would also help Saarc in enhancing its frontiers of perceptions on regional blocks. The poverty reduction fund, unless spent on repetitive researches and unproductive projects, could help poverty reduction in the region. All said and not done, the issue of mutual suspicion among some of the members might also stand in the way towards fulfilling the dreams. Our humble suggestion would be to restore the friendship first and start the business second. We hope that Saarc would succeed in mitigating the sufferings of the people of this region, first by promoting friendship and fraternity and second by the expansion of trade, business, and investment across the region.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.