Pakistan and China are reportedly working on building a new alliance to replace the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) after the recent SCO debacle involving India and Pakistan on the issue of terrorism.
The reports on Monday suggested that the two have proposed a plan to replace the now-defunct SAARC with a new alliance.
Reports citing top diplomatic sources familiar with the matter in Pakistan said, talks between Islamabad and Beijing are now at an advanced stage after the two sides agreed that a new organisation was essential for regional integration and connectivity.
Citing further sources, the reports indicated that these new alliances or organisations could replace the regional SAARC, which includes India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
This comes after China, Pakistan, and Bangladesh recently held a series of trilateral talks in Kunming, China, which was part of those diplomatic manoeuvres, they said.
Shortly after, Dhaka quickly dismissed reports on the idea of forming a trilateral alliance between Bangladesh, China and Pakistan, saying the meeting was not political. Foreign affairs advisor M Touhid Hossain said, “We are not forming any alliance.”
As per sources, India would be invited to the new proposed group, while other regional countries, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Afghanistan, are expected to be part of the forum.
The main purpose of the new organisation is to seek and build greater connectivity through cooperation in trade, reports said.
The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to “prevailing circumstances”.
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