Modi moots video-call with Imran, other South Asian leaders to work out COVID-19 containment strategy

As India makes a subtle move to rejuvenate SAARC and re-assert its leadership in the region, it gets instant positive response from Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday proposed a video-conference among the leaders of the eight SAARC nations to work out a strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the South Asian region.

Four other SAARC leaders – Prime Minister Lotay Tshering of Bhutan, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih – were quick to respond positively to the proposal mooted by the Prime Minister of India.

Modi's proposal marked the first such initiative by New Delhi to breathe fresh life into the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), which remained stuck in an impasse over the past three-and-a-half years since India pulled itself out of the eight-nation-bloc's 19th summit that was to be hosted by Pakistan in November 2016.

“I would like to propose that the leadership of SAARC nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight Coronavirus,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

Modi's proposal may set the stage for New Delhi and Islamabad to explore the possibility of easing tension in bilateral ties, apart from leading to rejuvenation of the SAARC – of course, if it is accepted by the leaders of other South Asian nations, especially Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“We could discuss, via video conferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy. Together, we can set an example to the world, and contribute to a healthier planet,” he posted on Twitter.

Altogether 75 people have so far been tested Covid-19 positive in India. A 76-year-old man, who died at Gulbarga in Karnataka on Thursday, was the first casualty of the pandemic in the country. According to the latest situation report of the World Health Organization (WHO), 19 people have been confirmed to be infected by the virus in Pakistan, eight in Maldives, seven in Afghanistan, three in Bangladesh, two in Sri Lanka and one each in Nepal and Bhutan. Except India, none of the seven other SAARC members so far reported the death of any person due to the Covid-19 infection.

“Thank you for the great initiative Shri @narendramodi #LKA is ready to join the discussion & share our learnings & (and) best practices and to learn from other #SAARC members. Let’s unite in solidarity during these trying times and keep our citizens safe,” Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, posted on Twitter.

Solih, President of the Maldives, too thanked Modi for the initiative and responded positively. “Thank you PM @narendramodi for taking the initiative on this important endeavour. Covid 19 requires a collective effort to defeat it. The Maldives welcomes this proposal and would fully support such a regional effort,” he tweeted.

“This is what we call leadership. As members of this region, we must come together in such times. Smaller economies are hit harder, so we must coordinate. With your leadership, I have no doubt we will see the immediate and impactful outcome. Looking forward to the video conference,” Tshering, Prime Minister of Bhutan, posted on Twitter.

“I welcome the idea advanced by Prime Minister Modiji @narendramodi for chalking out a strong strategy by the leadership of the SAARC nations to fight Coronavirus. My government is ready to work closely with the SAARC Member States to protect our citizens from this deadly disease,” Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal.

New Delhi has already offered all possible assistance to neighbouring countries in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. India is already in the process of sending a 14-member medical team to Maldives. The team will have physicians, pulmonologists, anaesthetists and lab technicians, who will help medical professionals engaged by the Maldivian Government to deal with the outbreak.

Modi posted the proposal on Twitter just a day after Pakistan hinted that it was not averse to work with other neighbouring nations to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

“(The) Government of Pakistan is monitoring the situation very closely and will take measures required for the citizens within Pakistan and any assistance we can provide to our neighbouring countries,” said Aisha Farooqui, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of the neighbouring country. She was briefing journalists in Islamabad on Thursday and was replying to a question if Pakistan would work with its neighbours, including India, to contain the virus.

Modi in 2016 decided to opt-out of the SAARC summit, which Pakistan Government would have hosted in Islamabad. New Delhi's decision not to attend the summit was in response to terrorist attacks launched from Pakistan or the territories under the control of Pakistan on the Indian Air Force base (IAF) at Pathankot in Punjab and the Indian Army's brigade headquarters at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir. As other SAARC leaders too decided to opt-out, the Pakistan Government had to postpone the summit indefinitely.

The impasse over the SAARC continued since then as the eight-member nations could not yet agree on the venue and the date of the summit.

New Delhi has also been blaming Islamabad for blocking initiatives within the SAARC for regional connectivity and regional cooperation to combat terrorism.

Just before taking over as the Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 2018, Khan had told Ajay Bisaria, then envoy of New Delhi to Islamabad, that he looked forward to hosting Modi and other leaders of all the South Asian nations for the summit of the eight-nation-bloc in Islamabad.

New Delhi, however, had remained non-committal on responding to the overtures from the new dispensation in Islamabad.

The 2019 saw tension between New Delhi and Islamabad escalating – first over the killing of over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a terror attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on February 14 and India's retaliatory air-strike on a terrorist training facility at Balakot in Pakistan on February 28 and then over Pakistan's campaign against India's August 5 decision on stripping J&K off its special status and reorganizing the state into two union territories.