Indo-Pak ties took a qualitative change for better from the beginning of the last year and the process continued over the entire year with commendable gestures from both sides in the apparent pursuit of good neighbourliness as well as promoting a positive ambience in the region. While the smaller nations of the area generally spare no effort towards improvement of the overall situation in the region, there is hardly any denying that the positive or negative conditions are largely contingent upon the attitude and policy of the two major countries whose hostile relations fortunately took a back seat and remained so throughout the last year and it augurs well in the new year unless there is an unexpected reversal in the trend. The relatively and reasonably good New Delhi-Islamabad bilateral ties cast a sobering effect in the region that also helped the regional forum SAARC to proceed with its normal activities of collective cooperation including the staging of the 13th summit at the beginning of the new year. That the event had to be called off due to serious magnitude of "Tsunami" disaster is a different matter altogether. All the member countries of the SAARC were keen to take part in the event but were helpless to go aheasd with it when three of its members were severely hit. It is expected that the event will take place at an early date when normal condition returns facilitating the holding of the Summit.

But the years preceding 2004 were different when scheduled SAARC summits had to be postponed for long time owing to the political differences of India and Pakistan. The 11th summit at Kathmandu saw an unusual delay for more than a year as the two traditional foes stood on the brink of a war and the summit was made possible only after the decks were cleared following assiduous efforts. Then once again, the last summit in Islamabad was a victim of the same problem as the event was subjected to long delay.

Indo-Pak bilateral ties were inextricably linked with the holding of the summit and finally it was made possible after improvement of their ties. Thanks to 2004 -- no such situation developed warranting any delay in the SAARC summit scheduled for early January, 2005. None had any hand in the fate determined by the sudden natural disaster. SAARC events, particularly the summits in a big way reflect the political climate in South Asia and the very fact that SAARC summit this time had poised to take place without any obstacle on the scheduled time is a measure of the good ambience that exists in the region. Now although it has to be postponed but it is expected soon again.

However, domestically several South Asian nations witnessed significant changes in the by-gone year and some experienced political crises that are spilling in the new year. India, the biggest member of the SAARC and the world's largest democracy saw an orderly change in the government belying assessments in most quarters about the shape of things to come through the general elections in the first half of the last year. A minority government is now in control in the country with outside support but the authority appears to be stable.

Sri Lanka's political situation became murkier as the government of former prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe lost in the parliamentary polls, strengthening the authority of president Chandrika Kumaratunga who was at loggerheads with the ex-premier. But this change has not improved the political situation as uncertainty continues to stalk the country while the peace process with the Tamil militants suffered further setbacks with little sign that the effort is going to be resumed soon. Nepal is also experiencing strain in the system since the monarchy is seeking to revert to its authority at the cost of parliamentary democracy that was set up after painstaking process in 1990. Former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been reinstated but democratic government still eludes the Himalayan kingdom. And more serious is the threat by the Maoist leftist radicals, whose armed struggle to dismantle the monarchy and establish a republic seems gaining strength even though no side is in a position to make a decisive gain.

Pakistan now have a new prime minister but the real authority lies with the military person, who is at the helm and of late has decided not to shed his uniform, reneging on the earlier promise. This has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition, which, however, is not much in a position to create any serious trouble for the army president. For the small island of Maldives, 2004 was politically not without events as pro-democracy agitation caused some furore against the present pattern of rule. And Bangladesh also saw political unrest which may intensify as the next general elections are drawing nearer.

But the bottom line is that South Asia as a whole was largely peaceful mainly because Indo-Pak hostilities were at a low key. It was the last SAARC summit in Islamabad that saw the process of reconciliation, which is continuing even though both sides occasionally resort to demagogy centering their old stance on main bone of contention "Kashmir". But New Delhi and Islamabad deserve kudos for maintaining a reasonable degree of peaceful atmosphere in South Asia, which is seldom witnessed. After all, peace in the region hinges on the ties between these two nuclear rivals. Hopefully, this ambience will be maintained in the days ahead for the sake of the region.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is a senior journalist.