India on Thursday questioned Pakistan’s conditional contribution to the SAARC emergency fund to fight the COVID-19 virus.
Pakistan has said that this amount can only be used with the consent of all members and through the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu and under the objectives mentioned in the SAARC charter.
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This entire process is feared to be the next step towards halting all activities undertaken by the group, where decisions are taken on the basis of consensus. Pakistan has, in the past, stopped several initiatives taken by India for the region, including the SAARC satellite services. However, India still went ahead with it.
This contribution amounting to USD 3 million comes almost a month after the establishment of the fund on March 15.
In this regard, Anurag Thakur, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said:
“It is for each SAARC Member State to decide on the timing, manner and implementation of their SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund commitments. Where India is concerned, the commitment made by the Prime Minister is today in an advanced stage of implementation. Assistance in material and services has been extended to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. These SAARC countries have also made early commitments to the Fund. The degree of seriousness of each nation can be gauged by their behavior.”
India contributed a sum of USD 10 million after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with the leaders of all SAARC nations.