India plans to skip Saarc Summit
Foreign Office says Imran chose to politicise a pious moment with Kashmir remark
India won’t attend the proposed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit in Pakistan and there will be no dialogue with Islamabad until it stops sponsoring terrorism, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced yesterday.
Swaraj emphasised that New Delhi will not participate in the Saarc summit and it was not responding to an invite from Pakistan for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the gathering of South Asian leaders.
“As I said, unless and until Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc,” she told the media here.
Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said yesterday.
The Saarc Summit of 2016, which was to be held in Pakistan was cancelled after India boycotted the event, triggering a pullout by Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
Swaraj said yesterday talks and terror cannot go together.
Meanwhile, India said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s reference to Jammu and Kashmir during the ground breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor was “deeply regrettable” and he chose to politicise a pious moment.
The Ministry of External Affairs said Jammu and Kashmir was an “integral and inalienable” part of India.