Pakistan pledges $3 mn to Saarc Covid-19 Fund proposed by PM Modi. Then, a rider
According to New Delhi, India’s engagements with Saarc members on Covid-19 related matters are stand-alone events whereas Pakistan has sought to bring all issues under the Saarc secretariat in a bid to block Indian initiatives.
The Pakistan government on Thursday pledged $3 million to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s (SAARC) Covid-19 Emergency Fund on the condition that the facility be administered by the Saarc secretariat.
Pakistan has agreed to contribute $ 3 million to the Saarc Covid-19 Emergency Fund but stipulated that the fund must be operated by the Saarc Secretariat (AP)
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Pakistan is the last of Saarc’s eight members to contribute to the fund, which was created with an initial corpus of $10 million provided by India following a video conference of leaders of the grouping on March 15.
“While communicating Pakistan’s decision to the Saarc Secretariat, it has been conveyed that all proceeds of the Fund should be administered by the Saarc Secretariat and that the modalities for the Fund’s utilisation should be finalised through consultations with the Member States as per the Saarc Charter,” said a statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
“Pakistan’s perspective in this regard was also conveyed during a telephone conversation between Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and Secretary General SAARC Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, today,” the statement added.
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According to New Delhi, India’s engagements with Saarc members on Covid-19 related matters are stand-alone events whereas Pakistan has sought to bring all issues under the Saarc secretariat in a bid to block Indian initiatives.
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According to New Delhi, India’s engagements with Saarc members on Covid-19 related matters are stand-alone events whereas Pakistan has sought to bring all issues under the Saarc secretariat in a bid to block Indian initiatives.
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On Wednesday, Pakistan skipped a video conference of senior trade officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), saying it chose not to participate since the Saarc secretariat wasn’t involved in organising it.
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
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