Which of the following countries were the founding members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), established in 1985? 1. India 2. Nepal 3. Maldives 4. Afghanistan Select the answer using the codes given below:

SAARC was established on 8 December 1985 in Dhaka with seven founding members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. From the given list, India, Nepal and Maldives are founding members. Afghanistan was NOT a founding member — it joined SAARC much later, in April 2007, becoming the eighth member. Hence statements 1, 2 and 3 only are correct.