[🇧🇩] SAARC---Can it be revived?

[Saif]

Because they are not educated. They can earn more from Sex business than their low skill.

Engineers/Doctors/MBAs are not educated? Are you ok? A lot of Indian Engineers/Doctors/MBAs are working in the corporate sector of Bangladesh. We don't allow Indian prostitutes to come here and pollute the society though. But India allows prostitutes from neighboring countries to come to enrich their society

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Engineers/Doctors/MBAs are not educated? Are you ok? A lot of Indian Engineers/Doctors/MBAs are working in the corporate sector of Bangladesh. We don't allow Indian prostitutes to come here and pollute the society though. But India allows prostitutes from neighboring countries to come to enrich their society

I am talking about those who illegally crosses the border. Do BD engineers and Doctors illegally cross the border? So far as Indians are concerned, they will always be Engineers, doctors and MBA and not illegal intruders engaged in Prostitution.

 

[Saif]

I am talking about those who illegally crosses the border. Do BD engineers and Doctors illegally cross the border? So far as Indians are concerned, they will always be Engineers, doctors and MBA and not illegal intruders engaged in Prostitution.

Our engineers/doctors/MBAs don't cross the border to look for a job in India. They have ample opportunities in Bangladesh to get a job in their related field. It's the Indian engineers/doctors/MBAs who come here with valid visa to get a job but never renew their visas and eventually become illegal. They don't even pay taxes. As for the rest of Indians, they go to Middle East to become gigolo of Arab Sheikhs. Sorry for bursting the bubble

 

[Bilal9]

Because they are not educated. They can earn more from Sex business than their low skill.

Wah Krishan Dada Wah.

Every woman in Bangladesh is uneducated?

Nice.

RIP logic and inference.

 

[Bilal9]

I am talking about those who illegally crosses the border. Do BD engineers and Doctors illegally cross the border? So far as Indians are concerned, they will always be Engineers, doctors and MBA and not illegal intruders engaged in Prostitution.

There are tons of Illegal status Indian Engineers, doctors and MBA's in Bangladesh because they can't either find a job in India, or they find the salaries in Bangladesh much higher. The strange thing is - we are tolerating these people and letting them stay.

If this was India - First of all Bangladeshi Engineers, doctors and MBA's wouldn't even find jobs, how prejudiced Indian people generally are to outsiders, even if jobs were available. Second most Bangladeshis wouldn't even like either living or working in India.

We see and hear stories all the time about 20,000 people in India applying for 2 peon jobs available.

In any case - let's keep the thread on topic and not hijack it by discussing off topic things.

If SAARC can include the 2nd and 3rd biggest economies (namely Pakistan and Bangladesh), then it will survive fine without India.

Also - there are other groupings without India already that Bangladesh and Pakistan are part of, namely D-8 in particular, which also includes Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia.

India is not an export-dependent economy, it does fine without exports.

 

[Krishna with Flute]

Because they are not educated. They can earn more from Sex business than their low skill.

You are a poor reader.

 

[Saif]

Dhaka seeks enhanced relations with all SA nations: Alam

Bangladesh wants to enhance relations with all the South Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, as its foreign policy is pro-Bangladesh, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said. “Our foreign policy is a pro-Bangladesh one,” he told a press briefing while respon

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Dhaka seeks enhanced relations with all SA nations: Alam
FE Online Desk
Published :
Apr 15, 2025 21:48
Updated :
Apr 15, 2025 21:48

Bangladesh wants to enhance relations with all the South Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, as its foreign policy is pro-Bangladesh, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said.

“Our foreign policy is a pro-Bangladesh one,” he told a press briefing while responding to a question about the visit of Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar later this month.

Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Dr Anisuzzaman Chowdhury and Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder were also present at the briefing at the Foreign Service Academy, reports BSS.

Alam said Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus repeatedly called for the revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as a top regional platform during meetings at home and abroad.

Bangladesh wants enhanced relations with the SAARC countries, he said.

Prof Yunus is seeking improved relations with all the South Asian nations, the press secretary said, adding, “Pakistan is also part of the South Asian family. We want improved relations with India, Bhutan and Nepal too.”

He mentioned that the interim government has taken a decision to set up an economic zone for Nepal and is looking for land in the North Bengal area, which is part of efforts to have improved relations with the South Asia family.

Alam said works are underway to set up an economic zone for Bhutan.​

 

[Saif]

Resuming SAARC, renewing friendship

THE late poet and film lyricist Kaifi Azmi described a strange method of writing film songs, which has come to bear a close resemblance to the method in prime minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy...

www.newagebd.net

Resuming SAARC, renewing friendship
Jawed Naqvi 22 May, 2025, 00:00

The first SAARC Summit in Dhaka in December 1985. | X/NSUI

THE late poet and film lyricist Kaifi Azmi described a strange method of writing film songs, which has come to bear a close resemblance to the method in prime minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy.

Kaifi said that he, like other great songwriters, was required to pen the lyrics — including several chartbusters — along prescribed tunes pre-set by the film’s music director. ‘It was akin to digging the grave first and then looking for a body to fit the size.’

Modi’s diplomacy plies along a similar prefabricated rut of right-wing ideology. Instead of leaning on flexibility and creativity of seasoned diplomats to pick and choose what accords best with national interest, it seems more concerned with running Modi’s saffron agenda.

When national interest gets to be determined by the size of the pro-Hindutva NRI crowds, for example, which the prime minister must attract on foreign visits, or when diplomacy submits to the overreach of the leader’s crony capitalist friends, canvassing support for the tycoons at the highest levels, leaning on India’s diplomatic capital, the result could see India being left at the mercy of global carpetbaggers.

This is what happened in the wake of the recent flare-up with Pakistan. Except for Israel, which is being turned by Benjamin Netanyahu into a fascist state, was there one country that stood by India, or which saw it as an ally deserving solidarity? And now the Indian government is sending a team of MPs on a junket to explain to foreign governments India’s point of view. Has it come to this?

Even the secular military is being reportedly harnessed to accord with the government’s ideological preferences. Defence analyst Pravin Sawhney has been saying this for years and questioning the Modi government for turning the army into a terrorism-fighting outfit in Kashmir, which only widens the gap with China’s advance in high-tech warfare capability.

It was again the ideological expediency with little thought to its diplomatic consequences — and only to fulfil a pending Hindutva agenda — that the government subverted a delicate political arrangement in Jammu and Kashmir, which brought China into the diplomatic-military frame on an issue that had been hitherto handled as a bilateral matter with Pakistan.

Eventually, the edifice, created with great political care in the Simla agreement by Indira Gandhi and ZA Bhutto, would give way to president Donald Trump pressing to mediate between India and Pakistan. Things have happened that Modi’s foreign policy objectives find themselves incapable of negotiating.

To tend to his ideological needs, Modi even embarrassed himself and the country by obsequiously canvassing support for Trump’s second term, which, by the way, Joe Biden won. Now, Trump is rewarding him for the help — by hyphenating India and Pakistan as equal nations worthy of America’s friendship, a hyphen that Indian diplomacy see as infra dig.

As the old movie song goes: ‘Na khuda hi mila, na visaal e sanam | Na idhar ke rahe na udhar ke rahe’ (Pursuing holiness and carnal love at once | I lost them both like a dunce). Pursuing friendship with Trump’s America as a primary goal, Modi found himself courting trouble with the rising powers of Asia — Russia and China. Which explains even if it does not justify the Shashi Tharoor-led junket.

What can Tharoor with his complicated English do that external affairs minister S Jaishankar could not? On the other hand, rather than reflecting on the futility of demonising Pakistan, the BJP is busy drumming up an election rally for Bihar, foregrounding Modi as the victor despite there being no endorsement of that verdict from any foreign quarter.

If anything, foreign governments are busy counting the exact number of planes that Pakistan says it had downed in aerial combat following the Indian attack on Pakistani sites on May 7. They are using the experience from the aerial combat to glean their own lessons for future war strategies. That’s the lot of the global south, sadly — to be used as guinea pigs for war machines vended by great powers. What is the alternative?

As Modi plies the bullock cart of Hindutva along the antediluvian ruts of narrow imagination, the cart is bound to clash with the guardrails of secular democracy prescribed by Gandhi and Nehru, and which Subhash Bose and Bhagat Singh died for. The multicultural, scientifically spirited cornucopia of a nation, the kind that made the world envious, among them Churchill who believed the free India would be ungovernable, needs urgent restoration. That would be opposite of where India is currently headed. Hindutva, unlike Kaifi’s songs, needs a mass grave of not one but all democratic institutions to fit its narrow ideology in.

The world has changed, however, and rightwing governments are facing resistance, be it in Israel or the United States. Hindutva can no longer be offered as a synonym for national interest at home or abroad. What foreign policy then is in India’s national interest?

Modi might want to look around and resume stalled friendships, not across the Atlantic or abutting the Pacific Ocean, but in the neighbourhood where India needs to re-earn the respect and fellowship of the countries that once considered it a friendly neighbour, and didn’t see its leaders as hectoring big brothers. This is also what China is doing with its own neighbours, including Vietnam and Japan. Mend fences at home, before launching the blue water naval capability. And don’t launch it if it only serves someone else’s interest.

In other words, India might consider starting anew with the resumption of a great platform that was created by South Asian countries to sort out their mutual problems in Dhaka in 1985, including terrorism. The seven-member club came to be called SAARC, which grew to eight with the inclusion of Afghanistan.

Modi initially made a welcome gesture to invite SAARC leaders to his inaugural, but then took the view perhaps that India had outgrown the neighbourhood. There’s no rocket, however, that can launch itself into outer space without the assurance of a firm ground beneath.

Jawed Naqvi is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.​

 

[Saif]

Something new should be in if SAARC fails

AFTER years of inertia and unfulfilled promises, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has once again come under scrutiny, this time with a sharp nudge from China. Beijing’s recent remarks are not subtle: if SAARC has failed to function, then it may be time for South Asia to...

www.newagebd.net

Something new should be in if SAARC fails
Shahidul Alam Swapan 13 July, 2025, 00:00

The first SAARC Summit in Dhaka in 1985. | NSUI on X

AFTER years of inertia and unfulfilled promises, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has once again come under scrutiny, this time with a sharp nudge from China. Beijing’s recent remarks are not subtle: if SAARC has failed to function, then it may be time for South Asia to rethink its model for regional cooperation. The suggestion? Build something new. Something that works.

Though not entirely surprising, China’s position injects a fresh and provocative voice into a long-running debate about the relevance and effectiveness of SAARC, an organisation that many now see as more ceremonial than operational.

SAARC: vision unrealised

ESTABLISHED in 1985, SAARC was meant to promote peace, stability and economic integration among its eight member states: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, over the past decade, the organisation has been effectively stalled.

The last full SAARC summit was held in 2014. Since then, efforts to reconvene have been repeatedly derailed, largely due to tensions between India and Pakistan. Under SAARC’s consensus-based model, any single member can block progress and that is exactly what has happened. Political deadlock, mutual suspicion and an inability to address bilateral issues have left SAARC adrift.

Trade within the SAARC region accounts for less than 5 per cent of the total trade volume of member countries, a figure that pales in comparison to the intra-regional trade in ASEAN or the European Union. Even basic regional initiatives, such as cross-border transportation and energy-sharing agreements, have struggled to gain traction. In short, SAARC has become a prisoner of its own politics.

China’s strategic proposition

CHINA is not a SAARC member, but it holds observer status and has growing influence in the region. At a recent multilateral engagement, Chinese officials stated plainly that if SAARC cannot fulfil its role, countries in the region should consider forming a new organisation, one based on action rather than gridlock.

A senior Chinese diplomat was quoted saying, ‘SAARC has potential, but if it cannot move forward, then countries must seek alternative platforms for regional cooperation. China is willing to support efforts that promote development, connectivity and stability.’

The statement is not just rhetorical. China has, through its Belt and Road Initiative, established deep economic and infrastructure ties across South Asia — with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives among its major partners. It has built roads, ports, power plants and railways, and in doing so, cultivated influence. China’s call for a ‘new organisation’ can thus be interpreted both as a strategic interest and a critique of the regional status quo.

Reactions to China’s suggestion are mixed. Some in the region acknowledge that SAARC is struggling and has been for years. The idea of a more flexible, issue-based, or interest-driven platform is appealing, especially to smaller states caught between regional giants and economic uncertainty.

Countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — all of which have significant economic ties with China — may find merit in exploring new forums that prioritize development over diplomacy. For them, regional cooperation is not about symbolism; it is about access to markets, investment, climate resilience and connectivity.

At the same time, many remain wary of China’s motives. While Beijing frames its engagement as win-win,’ critics point to rising debt burdens and opaque contracts associated with Belt and Road Initiative projects. A new organisation, especially one with heavy Chinese involvement, would likely be seen by some as an attempt to displace Indian leadership in the region and reshape South Asia’s strategic architecture.

India’s cautious distance

INDIA, SAARC’s largest member, has historically championed the association, even as its frustrations have grown. In recent years, New Delhi has shifted focus to other platforms like Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, which notably excludes Pakistan and includes Southeast Asian nations.

BIMSTEC allows India to pursue regional goals, such as connectivity, security cooperation, and disaster management, without the constant obstacle of India-Pakistan hostility. It also reflects India’s Indo-Pacific focus, aligning with its strategic partnerships with countries like Japan, Australia and the United States.

India is unlikely to welcome a China-led or China-backed regional organisation, viewing it as part of Beijing’s larger bid to expand influence and undermine India’s traditional role in South Asia. But at the same time, New Delhi has not offered a compelling vision for reviving SAARC, leaving a vacuum that others may fill.

Whether led by China or developed independently by South Asian nations themselves, the argument for a new form of regional cooperation is gaining ground. SAARC’s model, one based on consensus and avoidance of bilateral issues, may have once served a purpose, but today, it inhibits rather than enables progress.

A new platform could be informal, sectoral, or even project-specific — focused on practical cooperation in areas like health, education, digital infrastructure and climate resilience. It could involve external partners, but only with transparency, shared governance and fair participation.

The key question is whether countries in the region have the political will to look beyond old frameworks and explore new models, ones that are less about symbolism and more about outcomes.

Time to choose

CHINA’S statement, that a new organisation should replace an ineffective SAARC, is both a challenge and a provocation. It forces South Asia to confront an uncomfortable truth: despite years of rhetoric about unity and cooperation, the region remains deeply fragmented and under-integrated.

The decision now lies with South Asian leaders. They can either revive SAARC with renewed commitment and compromise, or they can design something new, one that reflects today’s realities, not yesterday’s dreams.

China’s proposal should not be accepted blindly, but neither should it be dismissed outright. At the very least, it offers an opportunity to rethink regional cooperation, not as an abstract ideal, but as a necessity in an increasingly interconnected and competitive world.

Shahidul Alam Swapan, Geneva-based private banking financial crime compliance expert, columnist and poet.​