Coronavirus outbreak: India active for revival after ignoring Saarc for four years

ISLAMABAD: India subverted South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit that had to be hosted by Pakistan way back in November 2016 and since then kept on scuttling Islamabad’s efforts for revival of the association, now cunningly asked for semi-formal contact between the Saarc leaders in the garb of cooperation to fight coronavirus.

India that has annexed occupied Kashmir and has siege Kashmiri population since seven months while imposed so-called Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in whole India to eliminate Muslim population, asking Pakistan dilute its position with regard to both the issues and consider attending Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit to be held in New Delhi in November this year. It intends to invite prime minister of Pakistan for the event.

Well-placed diplomatic sources told The News here on Friday that it would be wicked on part of India after consciously ignoring the Saarc for nearly four years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a diplomatic surprise on Friday by reaching out to the eight-nation grouping and urging its leaders to come together to fight the coronavirus outbreak. It would be difficult for Pakistan to disregard plight of Kashmiri people and Muslims of India to have shaking hands with India. “I would like to propose that the leadership of Saarc nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight coronavirus. We could discuss, via video conferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy. Together, we can set an example to the world, and contribute to a healthier planet,” he tweeted on Friday.

The last SAARC Summit was held on 26-27 November in 2014 in Kathmandu. The next summit, which was scheduled to take place in November 2016 in Islamabad, was called off due to Indian intrigues. The next SAARC Summit was never organised and the Narendra Modi government has focused more on the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) as a part of its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy and ‘Act East’ policy. It was an attempt to break SAARC but the scheme failed.

In the meanwhile Pakistan has hinted without specifically taking name of India that it will not shy away from cooperating with neighboring countries in addressing the challenges posed by the deadly COVID-19.

According to Foreign Office spokesperson Ms. Aisha Farooqui, “Government of Pakistan is monitoring the situation very closely and will take measures required for the citizens within Pakistan and any assistance we can provide to our neighbouring countries.” The sources said that Modi’s move for Saarc leaders’ video conference has been supported by small neighbours of India but Pakistan is mum about it and interestingly Afghanistan is also silent about the proposal.