NEW DELHI: India pledged $10 million toward a Covid-19 emergency fund and said it was putting together a rapid response team of doctors and specialists for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( Saarc ) nations as part of an initiative led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi made the announcements during a video-conference with Saarc leaders that he had proposed amid rising cases of the disease in the region. While India’s offer was welcomed by all Saarc leaders, Pakistan used the occasion to raise the Kashmir issue, saying the lockdown there should be ended to help fight the coronavirus outbreak. Islamabad also sought to get China involved in the Saarc initiative.The Indian PM suggested that nodal experts of all Saarc states meet in a week’s time by video-conference to take forward the ideas exchanged at Sunday’s discussion.“I propose we create a Covid-19 emergency fund,” the Prime Minister said. “This could be based on voluntary contributions from all of us. India can start with an initial offer of $10 million for this fund. Any of us can use the fund to meet the cost of immediate actions. Our foreign secretaries, through our embassies, can coordinate quickly to finalize the concept of this fund and its operations.”He urged the seven nations to fight the scourge jointly.“We can respond best by coming together, not growing apart--collaboration not confusion, preparation not panic,” he said after the leaders of six countries and Pakistan’s health minister presented their views on challenges in their respective countries and their preparedness to combat the disease.He said India was assembling a rapid response team of doctors and specialists, along with testing kits and other equipment.“They will be on standby, to be placed at your disposal, if required,” he said. “We can also quickly arrange online training capsules for your emergency response teams. This will be based on the model we have used in our own country, to raise the capacity of all our emergency staff.”The Indian PM had offered to convene the conference call in an unexpected move on Friday to talk about a joint strategy to combat the disease. Pakistan was the last to accept but Prime Minister Imran Khan didn’t attend, deputing the health minister in his stead.Those others who attended were Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Pakistan’s minister of state for health Zafar Mirza.Ghani referred to challenges stemming from Afghanistan’s open border with Iran, where the outbreak has been severe, and suggested that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) mechanism be used to help deal with the matter. Solih cited the economic downturn in Maldives owing to the drop in tourists and sought a South Asian response to the crisis. The Sri Lankan President also referred to economic losses and mentioned steps taken by his government.India has set up an Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to better trace possible virus carriers and the people they contacted. The PM offered to share this technology with Saarc partners besides providing training on using it. He also said existing facilities, such as the Saarc Disaster Management Centre, could be used to pool best practices and suggested a common platform to coordinate research on controlling epidemics within South Asia. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) can help coordinate such an exercise, he said.Modi also said experts could brainstorm on the longer-term economic consequences of Covid-19 and how South Asia can insulate internal trade and local value chains from its impact. He suggested that common Saarc pandemic protocols could be drawn up and applied in such situations. While inaugurating the video-conference on Sunday evening, the Indian PM also listed steps ranging from health protocols to airport screening to combat the disease.“We fully recognise that we are still in an unknown situation. We cannot predict with certainty how the situation will unfold despite our best efforts,” the PM said as he called for joint efforts in South Asia.The video summit is significant because, since 2016, Saarc has been mostly inactive. India had refused to attend the 2016 Saarc summit, which was to be held in Islamabad, following the Uri terror attack, which it said was perpetrated by terrorists based in Pakistan. After Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan also withdrew from the meet, the summit was called off.“From the Indian side, the fund will be available immediately,” a top source told ET. “The Saarc fund will be coordinated through embassies. We will take it up from there. It will be used as effectively and fast as rapidly implementable.”Sources told ET that it was too premature to discuss the revival of Saarc.“It brought together the leaders of Saarc to deal with the emergency situation,” one of them said. “If it can lead to any other initiative, that is difficult to say. Pakistan's comment (on Kashmir) doesn’t merit reaction--it showed what they are. Pakistan sent their health minister, who was uncomfortable in speaking--he was given a slip, it’s a churlish approach. This is a humanitarian issue. Pakistan tries to politicise humanitarian issues.”It was an extraordinary effort launched by India in a short time, said the source.“Ours is a constructive approach,” he said. “There are a number of requests by various countries for medicines, protective equipment--India is processing it. Maldives is a close partner. We will obviously work wth them in mitigating the challenges economically imposed by corona virus.”Ghani proposed modelling diffusion patterns, creation of a common framework for telemedicine and greater cooperation. Solih thanked the Indian government for medical assistance and for evacuating nine Maldivians from Wuhan. Rajapaksa recommended that Saarc leaders work together to help the economy tide over the difficult period.Sheikh Hasina thanked Prime Minister Modi for bringing 23 Bangladeshi students back from Wuhan. She proposed continuance of the dialogue at technical level through video conference by health ministers and secretaries.Tshering said the pandemic does-not follow geographical boundaries, hence it is all the more important for the nations to work together. He said the pandemic will affect the smaller and vulnerable economies disproportionately.Mirza proposed that the Saarc secretariat be mandated to establish a working group of national authorities for health information, data exchange and coordination in real time. He proposed a Saarc health ministers’ conference and development of regional mechanisms to share disease surveillance data in real time.“Like other disasters, we are rightly focusing on three Rs of its management - rescue, relief and rehabilitation. This kind of regional cooperation initiatives, as propounded by India, should be undertaken in other parts of the world. This will help the global community to better understand the values of knowledge-sharing as an important pillar of cooperation. Regional cooperation initiatives on a global disaster like this will act as building blocks for re-discovering the virtues of multilateralism,” noted Bipul Chatterjee, Executive Director, CUTS International a leading public policy body.