SAARC is on pause, not permanently discontinued: Jaishankar to Parl panel
Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on External Affairs were reportedly informed on Saturday that SAARC was on pause, but not permanently discontinued.
Sources told The Tribune that in response to concerns over China’s growing influence in India’s neighbourhood and SAARC remaining dormant since its last meeting in November 2014, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attributed the grouping’s current status to Pakistan’s stance.
A committee member quoted Jaishankar as saying, “SAARC is on pause; we have not pressed a full stop on it. It is on pause because of Pakistan’s approach.”
India had refused to attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad in 2016 following the Uri terror attack carried out by Pakistan. Subsequently, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh also withdrew.
Jaishankar was also quoted as saying that BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) was currently serving as the primary platform for regional cooperation.
BIMSTEC and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) both aim for regional cooperation.
BIMSTEC is not a direct parallel to SAARC as it focuses on the Bay of Bengal region and multi-sectoral economic cooperation, complementing rather than replacing SAARC.
Jaishankar is also learnt to have told the members that Delhi was considering Dhaka’s request for a meeting of interim government chief Muhammad Yunus with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and no decision had been taken yet.
The PM will travel to Bangkok for the BIMSTEC summit, which Thailand as its chair will host from April 2 to 4 in Bangkok.
The BIMSTEC, established in 1997, stands as a pivotal organisation fostering regional cooperation between South and Southeast Asia, comprising seven member states, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The BIMSTEC region encompasses over 1.7 billion people and has a combined GDP of $4.7 trillion. The situation in Bangladesh and the victimisation of Hindu minorities also came up for discussions at this first meeting of the external affairs consultative committee.
After the meeting, Jaishankar posted pictures thanking all members, including Manish Tewari, Vikramjit Sahney, Priyanka Chaturvedi, GK Vasan and KC Venugopal among others.
