Regional response and coronavirus

The virtual regional summit on the Covid-19 came and went over the weekend with Pakistan proposing that a ‘regional mechanism’ be developed for disease surveillance. The suggestion put forward by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza calls for members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation i.e. Saarc to exchange real-time data for helping control the spread of viruses such as Covid-19 now and in the future. Mirza noted that even though the novel coronavirus been declared a pandemic, “it has been deemed controllable as well”. He urged South Asian countries to follow guidelines set by the WHO and also learn from the experience of China and others in effectively addressing the disease after the initial outbreak.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up an emergency fund to fight the coronavirus outbreak in South Asia, and put his money where his mouth is by offering $10 million to get it started. The fund would be accessible to all members, and India would also offer rapid response teams and other expertise as requested or required, an unusually conciliatory Modi said. While Dr Mirza’s health background may have added great value to the meeting, it is unfortunate that, given the magnitude of the issue at hand, Pakistan was the only major country not represented by a head of state or head of government. Apart from Modi, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajid, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and other South Asian leaders participated in the meeting.

This was underscored by a comment by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on a private news channel, where he said Pakistan participated in the conference “despite India’s negative attitude”. While he was telling the truth, this is no time for point-scoring, especially from our top diplomat. Even warring parties can come together to resolve public health crises. His revelation that Pakistan has proposed hosting a meeting of Saarc countries’ health ministers to formulate a coordinated response also undercut the need for who Dr Mirza was in the meeting instead of the Prime Minister. Snubbing India should not mean snubbing all of Saarc.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2020.

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