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New Delhi: In an apparent attempt to counter India, China and Pakistan are considering establishing a new regional grouping that could potentially replace the SAARC, a media report said. India was the key member of the now-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
According to a report published in the Express Tribune newspaper, Pakistan and China are working on a proposal to create the new regional bloc "for regional integration and connectivity". The talks between the two countries are on advanced states, diplomatic sources familiar with the matter were quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The new bloc may possibly replace the SAARC, the now-defunct grouping comprises omprises India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Citing sources, the newspaper said that the Pakistan and China recently held a meeting along witg Bangladesh in China's Kunming to chalk out strategy for the new organisation. Other South Asian countries that are member of the SAARC are also expected to be invited to join the new grouping.
Bangladesh's interim government, however, dismissed the report of any emerging alliance between Dhaka, Beijing and Islamabad, saying the meeting was not “political”. “We are not forming any alliance,” foreign affairs adviser M Touhid Hossain had said.
Besides Pakistan and China, countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Afghanistan are also expected to join the new proposed forum. India would also be invited to the grouping, sources said.
The new bloc will be established with an aim to seek greater regional engagement through enhanced trade and connectivity, the newspaper said, adding that if the proposal is materialised, it would replace SAARC.
SAARC has been suspended for a long time due to ongoing tension between India and Pakistan. Its biennial summits have not been hel since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014.
The 2016 SAARC Summit was scheduled to be held in Islamabad. However, the summit was called off after India refused to participate in it following the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan had also decided to skip the Islamabad meet.
