Nepal on Wednesday ‘strongly urged’ that a conducive environment be created to ensure participation of all members in the next South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Pakistan, after four countries of the regional grouping,, including India, pulled out of the summit indirectly blaming Islamabad.
Nepal said it ‘has received communications' from four member-states -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India -- in which they conveyed their inability to participate in the 19th SAARC summit on November 9-10 stating that the current regional environment is ‘not conducive’ for the successful holding of the summit.
'We have taken this development seriously,' it said in a statement posted on its foreign ministry’s website.
Nepal ‘strongly urges that a conducive environment be created soon to ensure the participation of all member states in the 19th SAARC summit in line with the spirit of the SAARC charter,’ the statement said.
Under the SAARC charter, the summit is automatically postponed or cancelled even if one member country skips the event.
The four countries have pulled out of the summit, indirectly blaming Pakistan for ‘creating an environment which is not right for the successful holding’ of the meet.
That development came after tensions ran high between India and Pakistan after terrorists stormed an Indian Army base in Uri on September 18, killing 18 soldiers. The terrorists belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group.
Founded in 1985, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation currently has Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as its members.
Image for representation only. Photograph: Reuters
