Islamabad: The upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit scheduled to be held in November in Pakistan has been postponed after India refused to participate.
\nAccording to the eight-member body’s charter, the conference is postponed should any member state decline to participate.
\nFollowing India’s announcement, Bangladesh said it was also pulling out.
\nafghanistan and Bhutan — both close India allies — have since followed suit, according to an official with the Nepali government, current chair of SAARC.
\nMeanwhile, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that SAARC Summit could be postponed, if India refused to attend.
\nIn a statement in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said as per SAARC rules the Summit will not be held if any member country refused to attend.
\nHe said the Summit was also postponed four times in past due to Indian refusal of its presence.
\nSartaj Aziz said that although the summit is possible to postpone but the SAARC Secretariat has not officially informed the government so far.
\nnnouncing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to not participate in the conference, India\u2019s external affairs ministry had said there were other countries that had expressed reservations about participating in the summit amid heightened tensions over terrorism.
\nndia has conveyed to current Saarc Chair Nepal that [allegedly] increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in internal affairs of member states by one country have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th Saarc summit in Islamabad,\u201d said the Indian foreign ministry.
\n\u201cThat is why we have pulled out of the SAARC summit.\u201d
\nCurrent SAARC chair Nepal said it hoped the issues would be resolved but could not comment on whether the summit would go ahead.
\n\u201cThe host will take decisions regarding the summit,\u201d said Jhabindra Aryal, joint secretary of Nepal’s foreign ministry.
\nThe leaders of the eight SAARC countries \u2014 which also include Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives \u2014expressed frustration after the last summit in Kathmandu with the slow pace of progress towards greater regional integration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: The upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit scheduled to be held in November in Pakistan has been postponed after India refused to participate. According to the eight-member body’s charter, the conference is postponed should any member state decline to participate. Following India’s announcement, Bangladesh said it was also pulling out. afghanistan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n