Before pursuing South Asia, Pakistan must fix itself: Regional cooperation is impossible without India

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar recently floated the idea of a new regional body to replace the long-dormant South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), a suggestion made against the backdrop of steadily escalating India-Pakistan tensions. At first glance, the proposal may appear to be a routine diplomatic thought exercise; however, before one begins to speculate on the feasibility of any framework for South Asian cooperation that either sidelines or excludes India altogether, it is essential to carefully unpack the statement itself, the political moment in which it was made, and the contradictions it reveals. Much like Pakistan’s earlier…