Pakistan announces postponement of 19th SAARC summit

India’s move to derail the summit contradicts Modi’s call to fight poverty, says Foreign Office

Following the pull-out of India and other countries from the regional summit, Pakistan has announced the postponement of the 19^th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit.

“Pakistan deplores India’s decision to impede the SAARC process by not attending the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad on November 9 and 10,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.

The ministry said all preparations were made to hold the summit but had to be called off after impediments by Indian government, which contradicts the PM Narendra Modi’s call to fight poverty in the region.



"India’s decision to abstain from the Summit on the basis of unfounded assumptions on the Uri incident is a futile effort to divert attention of the world from the atrocities perpetrated by India in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir," the statement added.

A new set of dates for holding of summit In Islamabad will be announced soon, through the chair of SAARC (Nepal), said the Foreign Office.

Saarc, which comprises Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, has often been held hostage by animosity between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed on Thursday as Indian forces resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Bhimber, Kel and Lipa sectors. The exercise was dubbed as 'surgical strikes' by India.