19th SAARC Summit to be Boycotted by Members

After India announced its decision to not attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad, other countries have also followed suit namely Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh and had decided against attending the summit.
The formal confirmation is yet to be send to Nepal, who is currently at the Chair of the SAARC nations.

The reasons stated by all these nations are:

1. India

India has informed the current SAARC chair Nepal that, due to the increasing terrorist and cross border attacks has furthers increased the tensions between the two nations, therefore the Indian delegation and PM Narendra Modi will not be able to attend the SAARC Summit.

2. Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi representatives said that the increasing interference of Pakistan in the internal affairs of Bangladesh was the main cause of this decision.

3.Afghanistan

Afghanistan, which has already accused Pakistan of supporting and providing shelter to Taliban rebels in the past, said in a statement that they would not take part in the summit unless the security risks are resolved by the Pakistani Agencies.

4.Bhutan

The country officials stated that they are unwilling to attend the 19th SAARC summit amid the security reasons and the current Political tensions in Pakistan.

Nepal being at the Chair of SAARC nations has advised Pakistan to resolve the issues with other nations and do whatever is necessary to change their decisions.

Pakistan replied in a statement that India’s and other countries’ move to call off the summit is unfortunate and was not expected from the member nations.

The year has not been good for the Pakistan Government as various allegations were imposed on them:
1. Uri attack was the most controversial allegation on Pakistan.

2. Sushma Swaraj labelled Pakistan as a ‘terrorist state’ in the UNGA meet.

3. John Kerry, The US Secretary of state warned them to not support terrorist groups.

4. A bill has been signed by over one lakh US citizens to cast Pakistan as a terrorist state.

5. And the last and we hope it to be the least, the recent boycott of SAARC nations for the 19th SAARC summit.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates. Don’t forget to like and share. Do tell us your views in the comment box below.

29 September 2016
Rohan Jaitly