With hours to go for the arrival of India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday, Bangladesh has called for the revival of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).
Addressing the SAARC Journalist Forum Bangladesh, in Dhaka, Foreign Affairs Adviser Mohd Touhid Hossein was quoted by Prothom Alo as saying “There should have been annual summits but that did not happen. It has been ten years since any summit took place. We all know why that is so.”
The last was a swipe at India, which boycotted the Islamabad SAARC summit in 2016 over its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. That decision was backed by Bhutan, Nepal and ironically Bangladesh then under Sheikh Hasina as prime minister.
Hossein, a former Bangladesh foreign secretary had retired in 2009, but would have known the reasons for India boycotting the Islamabad summit. That he chose not to say so may suggest an ulterior motive.
India’s concern over attacks on minorities including the Hindus is well documented. Misri is expected to raise this issue during his talks on Monday.
Also of concern is Dhaka’s new found bonhomie with Islamabad, the lifting of visa restrictions that could see a flood of people linked to Pakistani Jihadi groups and reports of large scale purchases of arms and ammunition from Pakistan. Apparently, even training courses for Bangladesh army officers in Pakistan has restarted.
Many in the Indian government recall two periods 1991-96 and 2001-05 when Bangladesh was a crucial link in the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist nexus.
The focus on SAARC could be intended to divert and distract from some of India’s growing concerns. Sample this from Hossein.
“There are four steps in SAARC, To overcome the crisis, the first step is for our Foreign Secretaries Forum to hold a Standing Committee meeting. We will try to invite everyone and see if this could be done.”
“If we manage to have a meeting at the foreign secretary level, we can significantly reactivate SAARC.”
Describing the meeting with Misri as a “routine matter, nothing unusual”, Hossein underscored a point he has made earlier, “To solve any problem we must first admit the problem exists. We must acknowledge that there has been a qualitative change in our relations before and after Aug 5. We must accept this and work towards moving our relations forward.”
He said bilateral trade had been affected by recent developments, which had hit Bangladesh as much as India. Although a much larger economy, he said the impact may not be as severe “but the effect is still there.”
