SAARC minus Pakistan would be a good policy says Defence Expert

Defence expert Major General(Retd.) Ravi Arora on Wednesday said it would be a good idea to organize a SAARC sans Pakistan, where Indian proposals and SAARC countries as a whole could benefit without Islamabad acting as an obstacle.

"Perhaps it is a good policy to organize a new SAARC minus Pakistan where Indian proposals and SAARC countries as a whole can benefit without Pakistan being on the Table," he said.

"Pakistan has always seen the SAARC summit and its success as India's success. India is the big brother in SAARC, but other countries do not see it that way" he added.

"India has announced so many benefits for SAARC member countries like the SAARC satellite, SAARC connectivity corridors ,railways, highways and energy sharing but Islamabad doesn't want Indian proposals to see the light of day, or be successful," he said.

Major General Arora said that if the nations boycott the SAARC summit then it will be the first step to exclude Pakistan from the SAARC.

"They have always raised bilateral issues and SAARC has always said that this is not the place for bilateral issues. Whereas, terrorism is a concern affecting all SAARC nations, and India has said that we can discuss terrorism and particularly terrorism emanating from Pakistan," he clarified.

India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are likely to boycott November SAARC summit Islamabad. The neighboring countries may also boycott the global summit in protest against Pakistan's alleged state sponsored terrorism.

The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a grouping of eight countries which strive to promote peace, stability and progress in the South Asian region.