KARACHI: The upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit scheduled to be held in November in Pakistan has been postponed after India refused to participate. According to the eight-member body’s charter, the conference is postponed should any member state decline to participate. Following India’s announcement, Bangladesh said it was also pulling out. Afghanistan and Bhutan – both close India allies – have since followed the suit, according to an official with the Nepali government, current chair of the SAARC. Announcing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to not participate in the conference, India’s External Affairs Ministry had said there were other countries that had expressed reservations about participating in the summit amid heightened tensions over terrorism. “India has conveyed to current SAARC chair Nepal that increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in internal affairs of member states by one country have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad,” said the Indian Foreign Ministry. “That is why we have pulled out of the SAARC summit.” Nepal said it hoped the issues would be resolved but could not comment on whether the summit would go ahead. “The host will take decisions regarding the summit,” said Jhabindra Aryal, joint secretary of Nepal’s Foreign Ministry. The leaders of the eight SAARC countries — which also include Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives —expressed frustration after the last summit in Kathmandu with the slow pace of progress towards greater regional integration. “Pakistan has been interfering in our internal affairs for some time,” a senior Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry official told AFP, requesting anonymity. “That’s why we have pulled out of the SAARC summit.” Under pressure to act after Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) raid that killed 18 Indian soldiers, Modi warned Pakistan in a major speech that India would push to make it a pariah state. Pakistan denies any involvement in the September 18 attack, the worst of its kind in over a decade. At the last SAARC summit in 2014, newly elected Modi shook hands with Nawaz Sharif, raising hopes of warmer ties. Just over a year later, Modi made a surprise Christmas Day visit to Pakistan for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif. But those hopes were dashed following the Pathankot attack in which seven Indian soldiers died, and peace talks have been on ice ever since. A Foreign Ministry official in Islamabad, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said SAARC officials “will reorganise future dates for the conference”. A formal announcement postponing the summit “has to come from the SAARC secretariat and not from us”, the official said. Cyril Almeida, a columnist in an English-language daily, said India’s move to exclude Pakistan from regional discussions was not unexpected. “Diplomatically, (it’s) maybe not a big deal for Pakistan given that SAARC is widely perceived as ineffective,” he said. “But (it’s) a fresh sign of Pakistan not being in a comfortable place in its own region.” Analyst Ashok Malik said the withdrawals would have little practical impact on Pakistan. “It basically scores a symbolic and a political victory. As for Pakistan, this will push it even closer to China,” said Malik, head of the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation’s regional studies initiative. Pakistan said it remained “committed to peace and regional cooperation” and accused India of perpetrating “terrorism” on its soil. “As for the excuse used by India, the world knows that it is India that has been perpetrating and financing terrorism in Pakistan,” tweeted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nafees Zakariya late Tuesday, citing the capture of an Indian intelligence officer in Balochistan earlier this year.