Pakistan to boycott Saarc meet in India

new delhi — Pakistan has decided to boycott a key meeting of South Asian Speakers to be held in India this month.

The two-day meet begins on February 18 at Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

It will discuss poverty, development, environment and gender concerns in South Asia, home to more than 25 per cent of the world population.

Pakistan has decided to give it a slip in an apparent tit-for-tat over India’s refusal to attend a Saarc summit in Islamabad in November last year that got axed after many other member countries too pulled out.

“No delegation is coming from Pakistan,” a source in Pakistan’s High Commission here told IANS. The source said Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had received an invite from India but “it was decided not to participate because the atmosphere is not conducive” between the two countries.

In 2015, India boycotted a Commonwealth Parliamentary Union (CPU) meeting in Islamabad to protest against Pakistan’s decision not to invite the Speaker of the Kashmir assembly.

Tension between India and Pakistan escalated after the September terror attack on an army base Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Indian Army alleged that militants crossed over from Pakistan for the strike that killed 19 soldiers.

Days later, the Indian Army claimed to launch ‘surgical strikes’ inside Pakistan, which was strongly denied by Pakistan.

The two countries also expelled each other’s diplomats after accusing them of spying.

Pakistan attended a conference on Afghanistan India hosted in December, triggering hopes of an end to their tensions and resumption of bilateral talks.

But Pakistan’s decision to skip the Speakers’ conference indicates that the tensions between the two neighbourly countries are yet to ease. —