Bangladesh, Pakistan want it revived but why India practically junked Saarc

Bangladesh chief adviser Muhammad Yunus met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during which the two leaders called for the revival of SAARC for regional cooperation in South Asia.

SAARC - a regional grouping comprising India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Nepal - has not been much effective since 2016.

The last SAARC biennial summits was in 2014 in Nepal’s Kathmandu.  

Now, the government of Bangladesh and Pakistan, both having anti-India sentiments running high, want the revival of SAARC.

Why Bangladesh & Pakistan want SAARC revival

Back in August, days after getting the charge to lead Bangladesh’s interim government, Yunus called for revival of SAARC to boost economic cooperation in the neigbourhood. Back then he held this discussion with Pakistan high commissioner Syed Ahmed Maroof.

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On Wednesday (September 25) Yunus met Sharif and said reviving SAARC could be a good way to start and sought support from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Sharif promised Pakistan’s support for the initiative and suggested that they should move step by step in reviving the regional platform.

Held a most cordial meeting with Chief Adviser of Interim Government of Bangladesh, Prof. Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of #UNGA79, today. While recalling their many commanalities and historic relations, both sides reiterated their common desire to enhance economic and… pic.twitter.com/0Qo4U2z7fB

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) September 25, 2024

When was the last SAARC summit held?

The last SAARC summit was in 2014 in Nepal after which the chairmanship was handed over to Pakistan.

As per charter rules, a summit cannot be held if all the members do not agree.

In 2016, the SAARC summit was planned to be held in Islamabad between 15 and 19, but India expressed its inability to participate.

Why India denied participating in 2016 SAARC summit in Islamabad

India does not have any angst against SAARC. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited all the SAARC leaders to his swearing-in in May 2014. He invited several SAARC nations to a gathering of world leaders in Goa on October 14-15.  

However, things got bad in 2016 as there were two terrorist attacks in India that year  - Pathankot attack in January and Uri attack in September.

India did not attend the SAARC summit that year in Pakistan due to “prevailing circumstances”. Later, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan also declined to participate.

SAARC pushed to back burner

In January 2016, Pathankot airbase was attacked by Pakistani terrorists. Eight people, including seven security personnel, were killed and 38 others were injured in the attack.  

A five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT), constituted by the government of Pakistan, visited India between March 27 and April 1, 2016. It was given evidence by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against individuals, including members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), who had conspired in the Pathankot attack and the handlers of terrorists who facilitated and guided them.

The NIA, in a chargesheet, also said the attack on the Pathankot airbase was planned in April 2014 at a meeting in Sialkot in Pakistan by Jaish-e-Mohammed operative Shahid Latif.  

However, reports in Pakistani media said that after returning from India, the Pakistan JIT claimed that “the Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign Pakistan."

A report on Pakistan Today, back then, also claimed the JIT alleging that India used the attack as a tool to expand its “vicious propaganda” against Pakistan “without having any solid evidence to back the claim”.

The same year on September 18, a couple of months ahead of the SAARC summit in Pakistan, there was a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.

Ten days after Uri terror attack, on September 28, the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes against terror launchpads on and along the Line of Control (LoC)

This did not end. On February 14, 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying CRPF personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a suicide bomber driving an explosive-laden vehicle in the Pulwama district of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir. The ghastly terror attack left 40 CRPF personnel dead and over a dozen injured.

According to the NIA, the Pulwama attack was a well-planned criminal conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-based JEM terror outfit.

The relationship between the two neighbouring nations deteriorated further after India withdrew the special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories in August, 2019.

‘Terrorism and talks cannot go hand in hand’

In 2014, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York in Hindi, PM Modi said, “India was prepared to engage in serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in a peaceful and violence free atmosphere. It is also upto Pakistan to create the right atmosphere and come forward for bilateral talks."

On several occasions, slamming Pakistan, PM Modi has said, “terrorism and talks cannot go hand in hand."

In 2022, the then spokesperson of Pakistan Foreign Office, Asim Iftikhar, claimed that India’s “obstruction of the SAARC process was an established fact."

His statements received a response from the then External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, who said: “You are aware of the background as to why the SAARC summit has not been held since 2014. There has been no material change in the situation since then. Therefore, there is still no consensus that would permit holding of the summit."