Advisers of Yunus, including his close aide Mahfuz Alam with alleged Hizbut Tahrir links, are advocating revival of Saarc. Recently, Alam created a controversy for threatening to annex parts of India, following which New Delhi raised strong objections.
ET has learnt that Pakistan is influencing members of the interim administration and a section of retired Bangladeshi military officers to revive Saarc as a pressure tactic against India.
The Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka has revived its contacts across the various institutions in Bangladesh, including ministries and universities to push several ideas, including Saarc. The current Saarc secretary general is Mohd Golam Sarwar, a diplomat from Bangladesh.
Saarc has been rendered toothless following Pakistan’s intransigence to various connectivity initiatives proposed by India and refusal to crack down on cross-border terror.
Saarc was all set to conclude two pacts during the 18th summit of the eight-nation bloc in Kathmandu in November 2014 – Regional Railways Agreement and Motor Vehicle Agreement for Regulation of Passenger & Cargo Vehicular Traffic. But the then Nawaz Sharif-led government came under pressure from the Army and blocked the proposals.After back-to-back terror attacks in India originating from Pakistan, PM Narendra Modi had declined to attend the 19th Saarc summit that his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif had planned to host in Islamabad in November 2016.Earlier egged on by Pakistan and Bangladesh, Nepal tried to organise a meeting of foreign ministers of Saarc nations on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this September but India was not keen. Instead, foreign minister S Jaishankar participated in the Bimstec meet on the sidelines of UNGA.
