Like China Pakistan too is trying to counter what it calls India's hegemony in various political quarters and Associations.It seems Islamabad has been stung by the way India achieved success in getting the SAARC meeting that was to be held in Pakistan postponed. India informed the SAARC members that it was not attending the SAARC meet because the Pakistani troops had attacked an Indian Army camp in Uri on September 18 in which 19 soldiers were killed.Other members including Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka supported India with the result the SAARC meet was cancelled. Pakistan leadership felt that India played its role as a leader in the SAARC to get the other members' support for getting the meet cancelled. To counter India's influence in the SAARC Pakistan has come up with a plan of broadnening the face of SAARC by including other members, especially its all weather friend, China. Pakistan is exploring the possibility of creating a greater South Asian economic alliance to counter India's controlling hold on the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
India used its influence in SAARC to isolate Pakistan when it announced that it would not attend the regional group's 19th summit, scheduled in Islamabad on November 15 and 16.India cited Pakistan's involvement in the September 18 terrorist attack at an Army camp in Uri town of Kashmir, in which 19 soldiers died, as the reason for its decision to boycott the summit.India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a claim which Islamabad has denied. Other SAARC nations Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka joined India to boycott the meeting. Pakistan hopes that this new arrangement will give it more room to manoeuvre when India tries to force a decision on it.Diplomatic observers in Washington said that proposed arrangement also suits China as it is worried about India's rapidly growing influence in the region.They argued that China can play an important role in persuading Central Asian republics and Iran to join the new arrangement.
But, according to the observers, SAARC members will have little interest in supporting the idea.It is so because SAARC is a well-knit team comprising members that share borders and have some common problems.
Hitherto,India has never played a dominant role despite the fact that politically and economically and militarily India tops the list of the members of the SAARC. The SAARC members are from India, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. In fact Pakistan wants a new organization which has China as its member and in that case the Pakistan, with the help of China, could play a dominant role in the new Association. However,the SAARC members may have not shown any interest in Pakistan’s plan and if China supports to the hilt Pakistan another regional Association may take birth and one is sure that smaller nations like the Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and India may not be interested. |
