India not to attend SAARC summit in Islamabad

KATHMANDU, Sept 27: India has conveyed to the government of Nepal, current chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), that India will not be able to participate in the proposed SAARC Summit in Islamabad in November 2016.

“India has conveyed to current SAARC Chair Nepal that increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in the internal affairs of Member States by one country have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad in November 2016,” read a statement made public by Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of Indian Ministry of External Affairs on twitter, Tuesday evening.

“India remains steadfast in its commitment to regional cooperation, connectivity and contacts but believes that these can only go forward in an atmosphere free of terror.”

It further said India understood that some other SAARC Member States have also conveyed their reservation about attending the Islamabad Summit in the scheduled time. It however didn’t name which are those countries.

Acting Secretary Jhabindra Aryal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, said that he didn’t receive any official communication in this regard as of Tuesday evening.