The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was in another longish period of

hibernation due to the flared rivalry between India and Pakistan, but it seems that the current Covid-19
pandemic has enabled the troubled regional entity to come out of its slumber. It is worth noting how
after concerted attempts to bypass SAARC over these past few years, it was India, which has tried to
reactivate this South Asian bloc to contend with the rampaging pandemic.

While his approach of dealing with Covid-19 at home has been contentious at best, Prime Minister of
India, Narendra Modi, took a novel step of reaching out to his regional counterparts to work out a joint
strategy to deal with Covid-19 almost two months ago.

The need for regional cooperation on Covid-19 is certainly important. SAARC countries have seen much
lower infection and mortality rates thus far, in comparison with the hardest-hit countries such as the
Unites States, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Iran and China. However, this crisis is far from over.
Covid-19 infection rates are still climbing, especially in India and Pakistan. The World Bank has recently
issued a warning that South Asia could be facing its worst economic performance in 40 years due to the
virus.

It was thus encouraging that India took a lead and pledged $10 million toward a SAARC Covid emergency
fund. Nepal and Afghanistan followed suit and pledged $1 million each. Maldives and Bhutan also made
smaller commitments. Bangladesh gave $1.5 million, whereas Sri Lanka provided $5 million to this fund.
Finally, Pakistan has also coughed up $3 million, but much more hesitantly.

Prime Minister Imran Khan did not attend the first Covid meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi.
Pakistan was represented at the meeting by Dr Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on
Health. Pakistan then boycotted a video conference of SAARC trade officials which discussed Covid
implications, led by India. India did not follow suit, as it participated in a video conference of SAARC
health ministers, hosted by Pakistan towards the end of last month.

Some Indian media outlets have tried to portray Pakistan’s hesitation about participating in this initiative
merely because it was India’s idea. The Pakistani government has conversely emphasised the need for
this initiative to be spearheaded by the SAARC Secretariat instead of India.

It would not be unfair to assert that Prime Minister Modi’s attempt to revive SAARC is probably
motivated by less altruistic motives, including the need to counter the increased international
apprehension about religious intolerance in India.
Yet, the fact that SAARC as a mechanism has been reactivated is certainly encouraging. SAARC’s Covid
fund now has over $21 million for use by its member nations to meet emergency expenses. New Delhi is
also putting up an Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal for use by all South Asian nations. Discussions
are also underway to create a stand-alone network of health and trade officials for interacting in real
time to deal with the pandemic at the regional level.

One hopes that the above efforts can be effectively brought under the purview of the SAARC Secretariat
to make them more resilient to the Indo-Pak rivalry. The Covid emergency response can also help
bolster the capacity of existing SAARC platforms, such as the Disaster Management Center, to deal with
the current health pandemic, and then other emergent concerns, such as water sharing and transborder
pollution, which are also pressing challenges for the region as a whole.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2020.

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