Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday proposed a strong strategy by South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries to fight the coronavirus threat in South Asian region. Modi, in a couple of posts on his official Twitter handle, urged SAARC leaders to outline a ‘strong strategy’ to fight coronavirus, adding that he was ready to discuss the matter via video conferencing for the betterment of the citizens of SAARC countries.
“I would like to propose that the leadership of SAARC nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight coronavirus. We could discuss, via videoconferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy.”
“Together, we can set an example to the world, and contribute to a healthier planet,” he twitted at 1:47pm yesterday on his official Twitter page.
In another tweet, at the same time, Modi said, “Our planet is battling the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. At various levels, governments and people are trying their best to combat it.”
“South Asia, which is home to a significant number of the global population should leave no stone unturned to ensure our people are healthy,” he said.
The Indian Prime Minister called for the joint strategy a day after the first case of death from Covid-19 in India was reported on Thursday.
A 76-year-old man from Kalburgi city, 575 km north of Bengaluru in India’s southwestern state of Karnataka, passed away on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Friday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has welcomed Modi’s proposal and look forward to a constructive dialogue with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and other heads of state and government who have already agreed to discuss way forward at this testing time for
the region and the world. He made the remarks in a re-tweet in Modi’s tweet. International analysts, in their reactions said they found the proposal of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SAARC leaders a positive one, as he wants to work together to combat coronavirus using the platform of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
They said it was a positive approach that India has, after a long time, articulated the SAARC platform to resolve a common crisis—the coronavirus outbreak—when the country itself is mired in a number of domestic problems like the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the Kashmir issue.
The experts pointed out that SAARC is not only a political platform for the eight nations in South Asia but a platform to resolve many common crises. International analysts are optimistic that SAARC nations will respond to Modi’s call in such a situation.
Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, Professor of International Relations and the Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies, Dhaka University (DU), told The Independent yesterday: “India is now facing several domestic problems like the NRC, CAA and Kashmir issues. Now it is facing the problem of coronavirus. Modi’s call to SAARC nations is a positive initiative.”
“Nobody will turn down his proposal though nothing can be said as to what Pakistan will do. SAARC is not only a political platform but a platform to work on various other issues,” he added.
Though the ministerial-level meetings and other functions of SAARC are being held on a regular basis, the SAARC summit has not been held after 2014, when the 18th SAARC summit was held In Kathmandu in Nepal from 26 to 27 November.
The 19th SAARC Summit was scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan from 15 to 16 November 2016 but did not take place following the Uri terrorist attack in the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.
During the recent visit of Nepalese foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali to Bangladesh in February, he urged the South Asian leaders to reactivate SAARC for the sake of the 1.8 billion people in the region. “SAARC was established to link South Asia. But unfortunately we are not integrated like that. Physical, economic, digital, and trade integration is on a lower level here. That is why Nepal wants to reactivate the SAARC process,” Gyawali has said.
He has also pointed out that the SAARC summit had not been held for four years. “But the silver lining is that the rest of the processes are still active in SAARC centres in various cities. Various ministerial and senior official-level meetings are on. So, we hope that the differences would be narrowed down in the near future,” he has also said.