Bangladesh-Pakistan Plan on SAARC : The interim government of Mohammad Yunus of Bangladesh is trying to reactivate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in collaboration with the government of Shahbaz Sharif of Pakistan. Mohammad Yunus had talked about the issue of SAARC organization during his meeting with Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif. These two countries have come together at a time when India is focusing on BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), an organization connecting South Asia and South-East Asia.
According to the Economic Times report, Mahfooz Alam, a close aide and aide of Mohammad Yunus, a key advisor to the Bangladeshi interim government, who reportedly has links with Hizb-Tahrir, is also advocating the reactivation of the SAARC organization.
Recently, Mahfooz Alam had created a controversy by threatening to occupy some parts of India. To which India had expressed strong objection. It is feared that Pakistan is influencing members of the Bangladeshi interim government and a section of retired Bangladeshi military officers to reactivate SAARC as a strategy to put pressure on India.
Currently an inactive organization ,SAARC,
The Pakistani High Commission in Dhaka is again activating its contacts with various institutions, ministries and universities of Bangladesh, so that many ideas including SAARC can be taken forward with full activeness. At present, the Secretary General of SAARC is Bangladeshi diplomat Mohammad Golam Sarwar. It is noteworthy that SAARC is currently an inactive organization due to Pakistan’s insistence on the initiatives proposed by India and its refusal to take action on terrorism on the border.
Let us tell you that during the 18th summit of the group of 8 countries in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal in November 2014, SAARC was close to finalizing two agreements. At that time, the Nawaz Sharif government of Pakistan had stopped the proposal under the pressure of the army.
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