Pak to still go ahead with SAARC Summit

Unfazed by India and three other SAARC nations deciding to pull out from the summit here, Pakistan on Wednesday said it will still hold the meet in November as scheduled. This flies in the face of the SAARC charter under which even if one head of government skips the event, it gets automatically postponed or cancelled. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan will host the 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in November, Radio Pakistan reported.

Zakaria was quoted as saying that it was learnt from the Indian External Affairs Ministry's tweet that India is not going to participate in the SAARC Summit. “While we have not received any official communication in this regard, the Indian announcement is unfortunate,” he said. The spokesperson also said Pakistan is committed to regional peace and will continue working for the interest of people of the region.

While Bangladesh has categorically said that “the growing interference” in its internal affairs by one country has “created an environment which is not conducive to the successful hosting of the SAARC Summit”, Afghanistan pulled out citing “terrorism in the region”. Bhutan said while it is committed to the SAARC process and strengthening of regional cooperation, it is concerned over the “recent escalation of terrorism in the region, which has seriously compromised the environment for the successful holding of the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad.” — PTI