Pakistan forced to put off Saarc meet

With few options left as Sri Lanka became the fifth South Asian nation to pull out of the Islamabad Saarc summit, the Pakistan government on Friday formally postponed the summit due to take place in its capital on November 9-10, in a move that also marked a big success for India’s diplomatic offensive in the wake of the September 18 Uri attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

Pakistan said a new set of dates would be decided and announced by current Saarc chair Nepal, indicating that Islamabad hasn’t given up hopes of hosting the summit. Accusing India of of imposing its bilateral problems on Saarc and derailing the summit, Pakistan said this contradicted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own call to fight poverty in the region, adding that India had made unfounded assumptions about the Uri incident.

A foreign office statement issued in Islamabad said, “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 perpetrated by India in Jammu and Kashmir... Pakistan deplores India’s decision to impede the Saarc process by not attending the 19th Saarc Summit at Islamabad on 9-10 November 2016.

And added: “Indian intentions of creating hurdles yet again is visible from the actions and statements at the political level during the last two months coupled with coordinated media efforts.”

The ministry said new set of dates for holding of the summit In Islamabad will be announced through Nepal soon.

Reacting to this, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted: “We note Pakistan’s decision to postpone Saarc Summit. They’ve been compelled to recognise the regional sentiment against terrorism”.

Earlier on Friday, Sri Lanka became the fifth South Asian nation to pull out of the Islamabad Saarc meeting, saying the “prevailing environment in the region is not conducive for holding the summit”. In a clear expression of solidarity with New Delhi that is likely to further turn the heat on Islamabad, Colombo also said it “condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard, the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in the region in a decisive manner”.

“As a founding member of Saarc, committed to regional cooperation, Sri Lanka hopes that the steps required to ensuring our region’s peace and security will be taken to create an environment that is conducive for the pursuit of regional cooperation. Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard, the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in the region in a decisive manner,” Sri Lanka added.

Colombo’s move comes just days before Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is due to begin a visit to India from October 4 to 6.

It may be recalled that earlier Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan had joined India in boycotting the Islamabad Saarc summit. Host Pakistan, Saarc chair Nepal and Maldives are the other three countries in the eight-member group.

India had earlier this week announced its boycott of the forthcoming Saarc summit in Islamabad, citing cross-border attacks and interference by “one country” (Pakistan) in the internal affairs of Saarc member states “that have created a scenario not conducive to successful holding of the summit”, and added regional cooperation can take place only in “an atmosphere free of terror”.