REGIONALISM AND SECURITY CONCERNS POST 9/11: A SOUTH ASIAN PERSPECTIVE

This article examines the relationship between regionalism and security concerns in South Asia from a post-9/11 perspective. It analyzes how the global "War on Terror" reshaped the security agenda of the region and impacted the process of regional cooperation under SAARC. The study explores the new emphasis on counter-terrorism cooperation within SAARC, leading to the adoption of new protocols and a greater focus on intelligence sharing and law enforcement. However, the research also argues that the post-9/11 environment, in some ways, exacerbated regional tensions. It discusses how the "with us or against us" logic of the War on Terror created new pressures on the states of the region and how the issue of terrorism became another point of contention in the India-Pakistan rivalry. The paper concludes that while 9/11 created a new imperative for security cooperation, the deep-seated political mistrust in the region continued to be the primary obstacle to making this cooperation effective.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had a profound and transformative impact on the security discourse in South Asia. This paper provides a regional perspective on the new relationship between regionalism and security in the post-9/11 world. The study begins by detailing the new international context, dominated by the US-led global "War on Terror," and how this created both new pressures and new opportunities for the countries of South Asia. The first part of the analysis focuses on the positive impetus for regionalism. It examines how the shared threat of transnational terrorism gave a new urgency to security cooperation within the SAARC framework. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the Additional Protocol to the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism, which was a direct response to the post-9/11 environment. The second part of the article, however, offers a more critical perspective. It argues that the global War on Terror did not, in fact, unite the region against a common enemy. Instead, the issue of terrorism quickly became entangled in the pre-existing India-Pakistan conflict, with both sides accusing the other of sponsoring terrorism. The paper analyzes how this dynamic continued to poison the well of regional cooperation, making the implementation of the SAARC counter-terrorism conventions largely ineffective. The findings reveal a paradoxical situation: a new and powerful common threat had emerged, but the old, deep-seated bilateral rivalries prevented the development of a genuine and effective common response. The paper concludes that until the core political conflicts of the region are addressed, even the most compelling security imperatives will fail to generate deep regional cooperation.