The present article seeks to make a critical assessment of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). On the basis of facts it has shown that SAARC has not yei performed upto expectation in providing real benefits to member states. It has identified two main reasons-constitutional and political - for the failure of the organization to deliver goods so far which also explain why SAARC does not promise bright prospects, i. e., it cannot succeed.
It has been argued that SAARC is premature to some extent. Seldom have SAARC activities been consciously directed towards realizing the prime objectives set forth in its Charter, viz., "to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia and to improve their quality of life". Instead of directing concrete activities towards such projects as joint ventures, etc, which would have helped realize the SAARC objectives of accelerating economic growth of member countries, the bulk of its activities have remained confined to organizing workshops, seminars and conferences, arranging essay contests and debates, holding, SAF games, and exchanging cultural activities such as SAVE. etc. which "have little more than symbolic value with no tangible benefit for the peoples of the region." Moreover, SAARC has not been found attractive from a cost-benefit analysis.
Apart from the political reason of existing mutual distrust and suspicion of the member countries against each other which SAARC are more concerned with projecting their self-image rather than cooperate wholeheartedly with one another within the framework of SAARC, the constitutional reason of keeping an escape clause in its Charter that "Bilateral and contentious issues shall be excluded from the deliberations" has rendered the organization ineffective in dealing with matters of great importance and mutual interest. As a result, SAARC has, as it were, turned into a white elephant which hardly serves any useful purpose.