Sri Lanka can take the lead in reviving SAARC, says Dr. Shashi Tharoor
27-Jul-2026.
India's Congress MP and author Dr. Shashi Tharoor has said Sri Lanka is well placed to provide leadership in reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as an active regional platform.
He made the remarks while participating in a session titled "Stories and States: Fiction and Non-fiction in South Asian Politics" at the Colombo Literary Festival on July 25. The discussion, chaired by Savithri Rodrigo, included questions on the continued inactivity of SAARC.
Responding, Dr. Tharoor said that moments before the discussion began, Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka had left the venue.
"My light-hearted answer would be that he should take the initiative," he remarked.
He observed that South Asia remained one of the few regions in the world with strong geographical, cultural, economic and political interconnections.
"Cooperation through SAARC is therefore extremely important," he said.
However, he noted that the longstanding differences between India and Pakistan had prevented the organisation from functioning effectively.
"Pakistan has maintained that it will not fully engage with SAARC unless its position on the India-Pakistan border dispute is addressed. As a result, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has effectively moved away from SAARC," he said.
According to Dr. Tharoor, India has instead focused on strengthening BIMSTEC while also pursuing dialogue centred on Afghanistan and Myanmar.
He added that there were also emerging ideas involving Nepal, Bangladesh and West Bengal.
Despite these developments, Dr. Tharoor said SAARC could still be revitalised through cooperation in the fields of art, culture and literature.
"India may say it cannot go to Pakistan, and Pakistan may say it cannot go to India. But Sri Lanka can bring together India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Rather than placing politics and economics at the forefront, countries can be united through cultural engagement. Sri Lanka is well positioned to lead such an initiative," he said.
