India turns down Pakistan's proposal for SAARC summit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 6

India has rejected Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s proposal for a SAARC summit in Islamabad on grounds that “there has been no material change in the situation” since the 18th gathering of eight South Asian leaders in Kathmandu in 2014.

“There is still no consensus that would permit the holding of the summit,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi when asked to respond to Qureshi’s observations at a press conference.

The 19th SAARC summit was scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. But India announced its boycott after a terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, the Maldives and Bhutan also refused to attend the summit,

leading to its indefinite postponement.

Qureshi had suggested that the SAARC summit be held in Islamabad and India could attend it virtually if its leaders were averse to coming to Pakistan.

On the Kremlin-floated proposal for a possible Russia-India-China in-person summit, the spokesperson noted that the three Foreign Ministers had held a virtual meeting on November 26. “Beyond that, there is nothing to add,” he said.