India has warned Pakistan on Monday that South Asian countries could find other ways to cooperate for regional stability if it continues to block initiatives in the SAARC banner. India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has showcased what South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) without Pakistan can achieve.

The Foreign Secretary while addressing a think tank in New Delhi, without naming anyone, took a dig at Islamabad and said, “Problem with SAARC is that some basic sort of standards of regional cooperation have to apply. If you say that I will be regional member but I will not allow regional trade, I will not allow regional connectivity, will not allow regional motor ways, I will not allow regional railways, then what is it about.”

Jaishankar referred to the connectivity project that has been blocked by Pakistan at the last SAARC summit organized in Kathmandu. He further added, “You cannot be a member of a region and block every possible regional initiative and still say I am good member. That sort of approach has to change.”

He said that if the South Asian countries are finding their initiatives being blocked in SAARC, they could go for other options such as Bay of Bengal Initiative of Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Previously, after the terrorist attack allegedly by Pakistani terrorists on Army camp in Uri, which killed 19 soldiers, India had pulled of from the SAARC summit which was to be organized in Islamabad, Pakistan. Following it, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan as well as Sri Lanka also pulled out of the SAARC summit in Islamabad, which resulted into the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan in the region.

The increasing tensions between India and Pakistan since the Uri Attack and the surgical strikes committed by Indian Army on terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), has put questions on the existence of SAARC.