Pakistan postpones Saarc Summit, after India and four other countries pull out

Pakistan on Friday postponed the Saarc Summit to be held here next month after India along with four other member states of the regional grouping decided against attending the meet.

"Pakistan deplores India's decision to impede the Saarc process by not attending the 19th Saarc Summit at Islamabad on 9-10 November 2016," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. 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.

File image of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. News18

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, the statement said. 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.

"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, the Foreign Office said.

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

The Foreign Office 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. "Accordingly, we have conveyed the same to the Prime
Minister of Nepal," it said.

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

Sri Lanka also pulled out of the Saarc Summit on Friday, becoming the fifth country to do so. Citing continuous cross border terrorism by Pakistan, India had announced earlier this week that "in the prevailing circumstances, the Government of India is unable to participate in the proposed summit in Islamabad."

Saarc member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.