Pakistan hopes India will attend SAARC summit

beijing — Pakistan hopes India will attend this year’s SAARC summit, which is likely to be held in Islamabad, a senior Pakistani diplomat said here.

“We really hope for SAARC, which is our regional organisation, to move beyond the differences and (that) India would be able to come to Pakistan for the SAARC summit because in the end, we are neighbours,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Pakistan Embassy here, told journalists on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) event here.

In 2016, India had not attended the SAARC summit in Pakistan after a terrorist attack at its army base. Several other member countries had followed the suit leading to the cancellation of the annual meet.

Baloch dismissed reports that after the entry of India and Pakistan in the SCO, their bilateral dispute would mar the grouping.

“This is not an organisation to settle disputes. This is an organisation to work for the region and for common challenges and common development,” she said.

“It is just speculation by the media. It is an important organisation for Pakistan and it is an important organisation for India. We hope that we wold bring some positives to the table and contribute to our region’s development and to more understanding between all parties in the SCO.

“Of course when you work together and you are in the same organisation, you have opportunities to resolve many of the issues.” —