Bangladesh seeks Pakistan help to revive Saarc, but why isn’t India interested
The prime Minister of the caretaker government of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus just met the Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif to seek Islamabad’s assistance in resurrecting Saarc an organization in which India exercises excessive power. Even Pakistan has been playing a diplomatic volley to reinstate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation grouping, but India did not make a gesture. Pakistan’s provision of safe havens and exports of terrorism to India was the major reason that India set aside this regional organization. However, the new Bangladeshi government after Sheikh Hasina took up the cause of Saarc revival with Pakistan gives a new twist to the existence chapter.
SAARC is a regional intergovernmental organization of eight Groups of South Asian Countries consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was set up on 8 December 1985 and had a secretariat in Kathmandu of the Nepal Resource Centre.
Naturally, Jaishankar did not name Pakistan but clarified why India is not enthusiastic about a Saarc meeting. Narendra Modi will not allow his country to become a place of tunnel-night terrorism and daylight trading, Jaishankar said in June last year.
Saarc was again in talk when Yunus and Sharif met on September 25, where they had talked about bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan for the revival of Saarc according to the Dhaka Tribune report. Currently,
Bangladesh is relying on Pakistan to reform the Saarc. India cannot be happy,” said Derek J Grossman, national security and Indo-Pacific analyst at the Rand corporation during X.
But there is a logic to why India may not need Saarc while Bangladesh and Pakistan are eager to get it up and running again. Before getting to that, let us know when and why India quit the Saarc summit.
INDIA STAYED AWAY FROM SAARC AFTER 2016 URI ATTACK
Pakistan has urged several times to revive Saarc whereas India has remained firm that it will remain out of Saarc.
This struggle started back in 2016 when Pakistan was hosting the 19th Saarc Summit in Islamabad.
India protested with Pakistan about sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir after an attack on an army camp at Uri in September 2016. Nineteen Indian soldiers were killed in that attack.
India quit the summit after the attack, and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka pulled out of the meeting as well.
India had informed the current Saarc Chair Nepal that rising cross-border terrorism in the region has led to an unfavourable situation in the conduct of the 19 Saarc Summit, said the Indian foreign ministry in 2016. For this, India has bluntly stated repeatedly that it cannot be “terrorism by day, trade by night”.
Trade is one of the areas in which Saarc lends support. Pakistan itself proposed Saarc Summit 2022 but could not make any headway. It had also extended an invitation for India to join virtually in 2022 but the country was not interested.
“The Saarc is in trouble basically because – how do you have a regional organisation when one member does not hide the fact, in fact, sometimes proclaims the fact that they undertake, I am using the most neutral word possible, violent actions against other members,” Jaishankar said in 2023.
While both, India and Pakistan remain adamant in their foreign policy, Bangladesh has shifted its policy a bit after the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Bangladesh which under PM Sheikh Hasina had boycotted the Saarc summit in 2016 did not even try to resuscitate the grouping.
But now, a lot has changed. Since, the tenure of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh has been attempting to bring it back into operation. Both were introduced in the course of the United Nations General Assembly sitting in New York at the headquarters on September 25. They talked about how relations between the two nations can be pulled up from the present status. That’s when they began to refer to reviving Saarc.
Yunus has been going on talking to resurrect Saarc. He found his opportunity within 20 days in a charger and he first talked about it. Concerning the relations within the SAARC, it can develop relations as the European Union counsels it. We all need each other so let us do business with each other, said Yunus in August. But now, Yunus has his support in Sharif. Citing the Tribune, Sharif told media persons that he would support Yunus and that the two countries would proceed gradually in resurrecting the regional forum.
PAKISTAN HAS CALLED FOR THE REVIVAL OF SAARC EARLIER TOO
This is not the first time that Pakistan has expressed a desire to revive the Saarc.
In December 2023, then Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had also expressed hope for a revival of Saarc, according to the Dawn.
“I would like to take the opportunity to reiterate Pakistan’s commitment to the Saarc process. I am confident that the current hindrances to the Organisation’s smooth functioning will be removed, thus enabling the Saarc member states to forge ahead on the path of mutually beneficial regional cooperation,” Kakar said.
But India has been against the revival of Saarc.
WHY BANGLADESH AND PAKISTAN WANT TO REVIVE SAARC
It is trade and economy that is behind Bangladesh and Pakistan pitching for Saarc’s revival.
Pakistan’s economy is in shambles and it has been taking loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet its day-to-day expenses. It has also borrowed from Gulf countries.
Bangladesh, which had seen good economic growth under Sheikh Hasina, bungled in the last couple of years. Corruption is blamed for its economic woes.
Seeking to revive their economies, both Yunus, a Nobel laureate and Sharif are eyeing Saarc. That trade was at the back of their minds while they spoke of Saarc is clear from The Dhaka Tribune report.
“Sharif expressed Pakistan’s interest in investing in Bangladesh’s textile and leather sectors,” it said.
One has to remember that the biggest player in the grouping is India, which is an economic powerhouse.
India is one of the major economies that is still growing at a high rate while big economies are sputtering. Growing at over 7% annually, India is likely to become the world’s third-biggest economy by 2030-31, predicts S&P.
India is also part of several groupings, including the G20 and Brics.
In terms of trade and business, it is the Saarc that needs India, and not vice versa. India needs the grouping, if at all, to maintain ties with its members. That New Delhi could do bilaterally as well, without one multilateral forum.
Trade and the need to build bridges are why Bangladesh and Pakistan are pushing for the revival of the Saarc grouping. While India, among the growth engines, stands firm on its anti-terrorism stance.