Bangladesh has expressed its willingness that under the right strategic conditions it could consider joining a regional grouping with Pakistan that excludes India in a formulation that Dhaka believes is not possible for several other South Asian countries.
The state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported that Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, while talking about evolving regional dynamics, remarked: “It is possible for us (Bangladesh) strategically… (but) it is not possible for Nepal or Bhutan to form a group with Pakistan excluding India”.
The comment by a senior Bangladeshi official has been widely read as a response to Islamabad’s recent pitch for new multilateral alignments in the region.
The assessment comes days after Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told an ‘Islamabad conclave’ that a trilateral initiative involving Pakistan, China and Bangladesh was already underway and could eventually be extended to other states.
According to the Bangladeshi outlet, Hossain noted that Dar “has said something and maybe at some point this could see some progress”.
Speaking at the opening session of the 5th Islamabad Conclave hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Dar had warned that South Asia could no longer afford to remain trapped in “zero-sum mindset, political fragmentation and dysfunctional regional architecture”.
He said Pakistan was seeking “open and inclusive regionalism” and signaled support for new multilateral platforms outside SAARC.
Dar said earlier this year that Pakistan, Bangladesh and China established a trilateral mechanism to promote mutual cooperation in areas of common interest.
“This concept can be expanded and replicated. As I have said before, groups of variable geometry – on issues from economy to regional priorities – cannot and should not be held hostage to anyone’s rigidity,” Dar said in a veiled reference to India.
