Pakistan plays Kashmir card in SAARC’s video conference to combat Coronavirus
India Government sources furiously reacted to the statement, saying, “Pakistan sent their Health Minister who was uncomfortable in speaking, he was given a slip, it’s a churlish approach. This is humanitarian issue, Pakistan tries to politicise humanitarian issue.”
Criticizing the absence of Pakistan PM Imran Khan, Indian Government sources said, “Even Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli participated a day after he was discharged from hospital, each leader participated from
SAARC except Pakistan PM Imran Khan.”In the conference, each SAARC country leader shared the current situation regarding coronavirus in their respective country, steps they have taken to prevent coronavirus and suggestions on how the SAARC countries can collaborate to combat this further.
“Our region has reported less than 150 coronavirus cases, but we need to remain vigilant.” said PM Modi at SAARC video conference.
”Step-by-step approach helped avoid panic, made special efforts to reach out to vulnerable groups,” the PM further said.
“We started screening people entering India from mid-January itself, while gradually increasing restrictions on travel,” said Modi. Modi proposed to the SAARC leaders of creating a Covid-19 emergency fund, which could be based on voluntary contributions from all the SAARC countries and also announced initial investment of USD 10 million for the fund by India.
Speaking about India’s preparedness for the outbreak, Modi said, “We will set up disease surveillance portal to better trace possible virus carriers and can share disease surveillance software with SAARC. We are assembling Rapid Response Team of doctors, specialists in India, along with testing kits, they will be ready for deployment.”
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani proposed common framework for tele-medicine to combat coronavirus. Ghani welcomed the initiatives suggested by PM Modi and called for nations to keep an eye on the evolving situation due to coronavirus.
“India also responded to call of its people abroad, we evacuated nearly 1,400 Indians from different countries,” said Modi.
India helped some citizens of neighbouring countries by evacuating them from coronavirus-hit nations, said Modi.
“No nation can afford to be unresponsive to situation in wake of coronavirus outbreak,” said Pakistan PM’s Special Assistant on Health Zafar Mirza.
Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih backs coordinated approach to deal with Covid-19, says no country can deal with the situation alone.
Ibrahim Solih thanked PM Modi for regional initiative to combat Covid-19 challenge and welcomed PM Modi’s suggestion of setting up a Covid-19 emergency fund.
SAARC leaders should formulate mechanism for our economies to tide over problems posed by coronavirus, said Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“I propose setting up of SAARC ministerial-level group to deal with issues related to coronavirus,” said Rajapaksa. He said many lessons will be learnt from sharing of experiences and thanked Modi for offering assistance to SAARC nations.
“Health ministers of SAARC nations can hold video conference to discuss specific issues related to COVID-19,” said Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. She called for continued dialogue between experts and officials on follow-up actions regarding Covid-19.
“Our collective efforts will help us devise a sound and robust strategy for SAARC region to fight coronavirus,” said Nepal PM K.P. Sharma Oli. He underlined importance of effective mobilisation to control spread of coronavirus.
“Important for all of us to be on same page to combat coronavirus,” said Bhutanese PM Lotay Tshering.
“It is clear we have to work together; we can respond best to coronavirus by coming together, not growing apart,” said PM Modi to the SAARC representatives.
