Daily Times

NEW YORK: Pakistan has accused India of creating hurdles in the way of promoting regional cooperation from the platform of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), after Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj left a SAARC meeting before hearing the Pakistan’s statement.

“One country is holding SAARC hostage to its unruly attitude,” he told reporters after participating in an informal meeting of SAARC’s Council of Ministers held on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York. “One country is holding the 1.7 billion people of South Asia hostage, while making vague statements and unsubstantiated, whimsical allegations. SAARC summit has already been delayed by two years, with no end in sight,” he said, adding that there was a general positivity within the rest of the members to move forward on the holding of the summit but one country was unnecessarily creating hurdles and obstacles for its narrow gains.

“Pakistan remains ready to hold the SAARC summit at any date agreed by the member states. Unless we meet and talk, how can we make any progress,” he asked, adding that Pakistan wants SAARC to turn into a result-oriented body.

To a question that whether he talked to his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj at the meeting, Qureshi said he did not. “She left in the middle of the meeting. May be she was not feeling well,” he said. “She (Swaraj) talked about regional cooperation at the meeting. My question is that how is regional cooperation possible if the nations in the region are ready to sit down and you are the obstacle in the way of those talks,” he asked.

Qureshi said the SAARC has not been able to set a date for its next summit to gear the organization towards implementing initiatives aimed at the betterment of the people of the region. “India is resisting the holding of summit until a ‘conducive environment’ prevails. Now who would decide what ‘conducive environment’ means – it has different meanings for different people,” he said.

The foreign minister stated that it was unfortunate that SAARC was deviating from the notion of a harmonious and peaceful neighbourhood that was the core aim of its founders. He stressed upon the need for resuming meaningful dialogue for the sake of regional peace and promoting ties along the lines of EU and ASEAN. Asked whether the issue of terrorism was raised by Afghanistan and Bangladesh at the meeting, Qureshi said that they did not.

Earlier, speaking at the meeting, the foreign minister reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to SAARC’s principles and objectives and highlighted the organization’s potential for promoting progress and prosperity in South Asia. He stressed that Pakistan considered SAARC an important platform for organizing a collective response to the regional challenges, particularly the development needs. Pakistan, he said, continued to insist that there was no alternate to communication, engagement and dialogue, and that the attempt to scuttle the SAARC process was actually the major impediment in ensuring prosperity, eliminating poverty and instituting development for the peoples of the region.

Published in Daily Times, September 29^th 2018.