{"id":26713,"date":"2025-12-07T03:59:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T03:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=26713"},"modified":"2025-12-07T03:59:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T03:59:27","slug":"pakistan-seeks-new-south-asian-bloc-to-cut-india-out-will-it-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=26713","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan seeks new South Asian bloc to cut India out: Will it work?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pakistan says an emerging three-way cooperation with Bangladesh and China could be expanded. But will a new SAARC without India find takers across South Asia?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mohammad Touhid Hossain, foreign affairs adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government and Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, attend a bilateral meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh [File: Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs\/Handout via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has said that a recent\u00a0trilateral initiative<\/a>\u00a0between Bangladesh, China and Islamabad could\u00a0be \u201cexpanded\u201d to include other regional nations and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have opposed \u2026 zero-sum approaches and consistently stressed the imperative of cooperation rather than confrontation,\u201d he told the Islamabad Conclave forum on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In effect, the proposal amounts to the creation of an alternative bloc focused on South Asia, with China added, at a time when the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) \u2014 the region\u2019s main grouping \u2014 has been made almost defunct by heightened India-Pakistan tensions in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, diplomats from China, Pakistan and Bangladesh held trilateral talks focusing on regional stability, economic development and enhancing people\u2019s lives, a cooperation they said was \u201cnot directed at any third party\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dar\u2019s remarks come against a backdrop of escalating regional tensions, including Pakistan\u2019s decades-long rivalry with India. The two nuclear-armed neighbours fought a brief four-day air war in May, further straining relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, ties between Dhaka and New Delhi have also deteriorated sharply following the ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina<\/a> in August last year. Hasina fled to India after being deposed in a popular uprising, and New Delhi has so far refused to send the former PM back to Bangladesh, where she was convicted by a tribunal in November of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But will most other South Asian nations \u2014 SAARC consists of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan \u2014 agree to a new regional grouping that appears aimed at cutting India out, or at least limiting its influence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what you need to know:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Pakistan\u2019s proposal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Deputy Prime Minister Dar, who is also Pakistan\u2019s foreign minister, said the trilateral initiative with Bangladesh and China aimed to \u201cfoster mutual collaboration\u201d in areas of shared interest, and that the concept be \u201cexpanded and duplicated\u201d to include more countries and regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs I have said before, there could be groups with variable geometry on issues from economy to technology to connectivity,\u201d he told the conclave in Islamabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur own national development needs and regional priorities cannot \u2013 and should not \u2013 be held hostage to anyone\u2019s rigidity, and you know where I am referring to,\u201d he said, in an apparent reference to India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi, Dar pointed out that a \u201cstructured dialogue\u201d process between India and Pakistan has remained in limbo \u201cfor over 11 years\u201d, adding that other regional states have had their share of a \u201cseesaw relationship with our neighbour India\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1:47<\/p>\n\n\n\n