India swipe at Pak insistence on bringing initiatives under SAARC framework

On Wednesday, Pakistan boycotted a video conference of trade officials of the SAARC countries, saying such initiatives could only be effective if spearheaded by the group’s secretariat instead of India. New Delhi maintains that initiatives taken under extraordinary circumstances are focused on jointly dealing with the pandemic without being bounded by any procedural formalities.

“It is for each SAARC member-state to decide on the timing, manner and implementation of their SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund commitments. Where India is concerned, the commitment made by the Prime Minister is today in an advanced stage of implementation,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

Srivastava was responding to a query on Pakistan’s announcement of the contribution to the emergency fund and insistence that it should be utilised in accordance with the SAARC charter.

“Assistance in material and services has been extended to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. These SAARC countries have also made early commitments to the Fund. The degree of seriousness of each nation can be gauged by their behaviour,” he said.

In a video conference on forming a joint strategy to fight COVID-19 in the SAARC region, Modi on March 15 proposed the emergency fund with an initial offer of $10 million from India. Subsequently, Nepal and Afghanistan pledged $1 million each, Maldives pledged $200,000, Bhutan $100,000, Bangladesh $1.5 million and Sri Lanka pledged to contribute $5 million to the fund.