ISLAMABAD:
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday made a pitch for a new regional body to replace the long-dormant South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Speaking at the opening session of the 5th Islamabad Conclave hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Dar 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.
The recent trilateral meeting between Pakistan, China and Bangladesh in Kunming, the first of its kind, was an important step in the ongoing consultations.
Senior diplomats from the three countries explored the contours of a new grouping with a view to eventually inviting other South Asian states, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Afghanistan.
India would also be invited to participate in the proposed forum, sources said, but New Delhi is unlikely to attend given its growing strategic divergence with both Pakistan and China.
SAARC, once envisioned as the “EU of South Asia”, has effectively been defunct since 2016, when India boycotted the summit Islamabad was supposed to host. Bangladesh, under Sheikh Hasina at the time, also followed suit.
Since then, no summit has been held and recent actions, including India’s withdrawal of SAARC visa waivers for Pakistani businessmen, have weakened the organization further.
Officials familiar with the backroom discussions said Pakistan and China concluded that the region could no longer wait for SAARC to be revived and that “like-minded countries must move forward.”
Observers note that India’s uneasiness with broader regional groupings has increased in recent years.
India also faced an embarrassing moment last week when nine SCO members refused to support its position on Pakistan. New Delhi refused to sign the final communiqué because it did not contain language that aligned with its narrative of the Pahalgam attack.
In his speech, the foreign minister urged South Asian states to break away from the “burden of history” and pursue cooperation in security, economy, climate adaptation and connectivity. He cited the recent 92-hour crisis between India and Pakistan as evidence of how fragile the region remains.
Dar said Pakistan envisions a South Asia where “connection replaces divisions” and disputes are resolved peacefully, while adding that a just solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue remains “indispensable” for sustainable peace.
He also welcomed new forms of cooperation, including the trilateral Pakistan-China-Bangladesh mechanism, which he said could be expanded into broader coalitions of “variable geometry” on trade, technology and infrastructure.
