Opinion 40 years ago December 9, 1985: SAARC launch

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on December 9, 1985.

2 min readDec 9, 2025 07:28 AM IST First published on: Dec 9, 2025 at 07:10 AM IST

The seven South Asian leaders launched the world’s most populous regional grouping with the hope that it would improve the security environment in the region and that cooperation among them in the economic and cultural fields will result in a better life for their peoples. On the final day of their first-ever summit, the heads of state of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka adopted a charter giving birth to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

H M Ershad on SAARC

The President of Bangladesh, Lt Gen H M Ershad, said that the scope of SAARC will be expanded to cover trade and other issues in due course. Though the contentious bilateral issues are outside the charter of the SAARC, Gen Ershad, who will be the chairman of the newly founded regional organisation for one year, said that it could provide a forum for resolving outstanding bilateral issues between them. Gen Ershad said that only regional issues were discussed during the informal meetings among the heads of state and government and issues such as Afghanistan and Kampuchea did not figure in it.

Campaign tensions in Assam

Tension is building up in the northeastern state of Assam as electioneering is picking up. The state will go to polls on December 16 to elect 126 members of the State Legislative Assembly and 14 members to the Lok Sabha. The ruling Congress (I) has adopted a defensive stand against the feverish campaign by the newly-formed Asom Gana Parishad.

Indian science journals soar

Indian scientific journals of repute have today become the most expensive in the world, especially when sold in the developed world. These journals, published by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and the Indian Academy of Sciences (lASc), have been stocked by the leading libraries in the US, Europe and practically all countries of the world.