Islamabad: Pakistan has expressed hope that the Saarc summit, which was boycotted by India and other neighbours last November, will be organised soon. It also urged that “internal and bilateral problems of member states must not be allowed to affect the organisation” — in an apparent reference to India.
Pakistan foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz on Friday in a meeting with Arjun Bahadur Thapa, the outgoing Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), said that “Islamabad was looking forward to welcoming Saarc leaders for the 19th Summit in November but was postponed when India impeded the process and violated the spirit of the Charter.”
“Pakistan remains committed to hosting the 19th Saarc Summit at Islamabad at the earliest so that the objectives of regional cooperation under the Saarc umbrella can be pursued more vigorously,” the Foreign Office quoted Aziz saying in the meeting.
He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to regional cooperation under the umbrella of Saarc for promoting welfare of the people of South Asia, improving their quality of life, economic progress, social uplift and cultural cooperation.
Aziz said that due to several impediments and challenges, Saarc has been unable to fulfil the vision that was laid out for it by its founding members.
Aziz said he believed that the Saarc Secretariat could play an important role as catalyst to bring all the member states together and ensure timely and effective implementation of programme and activities that would benefit the region.
According to Nepal, the current Saarc chair, the conference was cancelled after Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka followed India’s decision to boycott the summit on the issue of terrorism.
Thapa emphasised the need to overcome the difficulties that the organisation faced and expressed the hope that the summit would be held as soon as possible.
The boycott from India came as relations between the neighbouring nations dipped in the wake of the September 18 attack on an Indian Army base in Uri town of Jammu and Kashmir that left 19 soldiers dead. India blamed Pakistani militants for the attack.
Thapa emphasised the need to overcome the difficulties the organisation faced and expressed hope that the 19th Saarc Summit would be held in Islamabad as soon as possible.
Thapa, who paid a farewell call on Aziz, also held a meeting with Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who appreciated Thapa’s contributions to the Saarc process and reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the Saarc objectives.
Chaudhry emphasised that internal and bilateral problems of member states must not be allowed to affect the organisation and that 19th Saarc Summit should be held as soon as possible to put the whole Saarc process back on track.
On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Syed Zulfiqar Gardezi, Additional Secretary (Asia Pacific) hosted a lunch for the Secretary General, which was attended by Amjad Hussian Sial, Secretary General-elect of the Saarc.
Thapa who hails from Nepal, is the 12th Secretary General of Saarc. He will complete his tenure on February 28 after which Amjad Hussain Sial, former Special Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan is to take charge as the next Secretary General of Saarc.
