SAARC rules be damned, Pakistan will host summit

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif during the 18th SAARC Summit in 2014. Pic/AFP

Islamabad: Unfazed by India and three other SAARC nations deciding to pull out from the summit here, Pakistan yesterday said it will still hold the meet in November as scheduled which flies in the face of the SAARC charter under which even if one head of government skips the event, it gets automatically postponed or cancelled. Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan will host the 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in November, Radio Pakistan reported yesterday.

Zakaria was quoted as saying that it was learnt from the Indian External Affairs Ministry's tweet that India is not going to participate in the SAARC Summit, a decision he called "unfortunate."

The spokesperson also said Pakistan is committed to regional peace and will continue working for the broader interest of the people of the region, according to the report. Separately, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said India is making propaganda to foil the conference that was scheduled to be held in November, according to Pakistan Today newspaper.

‘Pak forced to postpone'
Meanwhile, Geo TV quoting official sources said Pakistan has been forced to postpone the summit due to India's refusal to participate in it. The TV channel quoted Aziz as saying that SAARC secretariat has not yet informed officially about postponement of the conference. He said chances are that SAARC Summit will be postponed, according to the report. The foreign adviser added that whenever the conference takes place, it will be held in Pakistan.

SAARC rules say
Under the SAARC charter, the summit is automatically postponed or cancelled even if one member country skips the event.