SAARC video conference on coronavirus to take place on Sunday 

The SAARC video conference on coronavirus outbreakproposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, totake place on Sunday at 5 pm.

In a tweet, PM Modi said, "I would like to propose that the leadership of SAARC nations chalk out a strong strategy to fight Coronavirus."

"We could discuss, via video conferencing, ways to keep our citizens healthy," he added.

All SAARC countries including Pakistan welcomed the idea and affirmed participation in the meet.

Pakistan will be represented by Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister (SAPM) on health Dr Zafar Mirza.

In a tweet, spokesperson of Pakistani Foreign Ministry Aisha Farooqui said, "The threat of #COVID-19 requires coordinated efforts at global and regional level. We have communicated that SAPM on Health will be available to participate in the video conference of SAARC member countries on the issue."

This has been conveyed to the Indian side through diplomatic channels as well.

The measure is also seen as revival SAARC which as a grouping has been defunct since 2016 following a terror attack in Uri, India in which 19 Indian soldiers.

The attack was planned by Pakistan based terrorist which led to India boycotting the summit in Islamabad that year. New Delhi was joined by other SAARC countries to boycott the 2016 Islamabad summit and since then India has been focusing on BIMSTEC grouping whose leaders were invited for the oath-taking ceremony of PM Modi after he won the second term in 2019.