SAARC summit put off

By Uditha Kumarasinghe

Pakistan on Friday (September 30) officially postponed the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad on November 9 and 10. A new set of dates for holding the Summit will be announced soon through the Chair of SAARC (Nepal), reports said.

A press release from the office of the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that they have conveyed this to the Prime Minister of Nepal, the current Chair of SAARC. Subsequently, Nepal has issued an official statement announcing an indefinite postponement of the summit.

Pakistan’s decision to postpone the SAARC Summit has come in the wake of five South Asian countries led by India expressing their inability to participate in the summit.The others were Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

On Friday, Sri Lanka announced that it had formally requested Islamabad for a postponement of the summit meeting due to the lack of unanimity among member states on the matter.

The General Provisions of the SAARC Charter require that decisions at all levels shall be taken on the basis of unanimity and this applies to the convening Heads of State or Government of SAARC Member States as well.