Pakistan officially postpones SAARC summit!Top Stories

October 01, 2016 11:26
Pakistan officially postpones SAARC summit!

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad next month was cancelled by the Pakistan after India along with four other member states of the regional grouping decided against attending the meet.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement, that, “Pakistan deplores India’s decision to impede the SAARC process by not attending the 19th SAARC Summit at Islamabad on 9-10 November 2016.”

It claimed that the spirit of the SAARC Charter is “violated” when a member state casts the shadow of its bilateral problems on the multilateral forum for regional cooperation.

The statement added that, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was looking forward to welcome the SAARC leaders for their participation in the summit. All preparations had been made for “successful” holding of the summit.

It alleged that decision by India to “derail the summit” effectively “contradicts” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own call to fight against poverty in the region.

The Foreign Office said that, “India’s decision to abstain from the Summit on the basis of unfounded assumptions on the Uri incident is a futile effort to divert attention of the world from the atrocities” by India in Kashmir.

“Pakistan attaches great importance to regional cooperation under the umbrella of SAARC. Therefore, Pakistan remains committed to hosting the 19th SAARC Summit at Islamabad at the earliest so that the objectives of regional cooperation under the SAARC umbrella can be pursued more vigorously,” it said.

A new set of dates for holding of the summit in Islamabad will be announced soon, through Nepal, which is currently the SAARC Chair, the Foreign Office said.

“Accordingly, we have conveyed the same to the Prime Minister of Nepal,” it said.

Besides India, four other SAARC members Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding of the meet.

Also Read: Sri Lanka also pulls out of Saarc summit in Islamabad!

Nandini

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