SAARC Summit postponed

The 19th SAARC Summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November, has finally been postponed after Bangladesh and India on Tuesday announced its inability to join it apparently amid regional tensions.
Although officials are yet to receive the message of postponement from the SAARC Chair Nepal but the summit is automatically postponed or cancelled as the charter of the eight South Asian nations organization said, "A summit shall be postponed if head of the state or the government of any member state refuse to take part in the Summit."
"This is the sixth time the region has witnessed that the SAARC Summit has been postponed, which has been constituted in early 80's for better cooperation-connectivity among the peoples of this region," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to skip the SAARC Summit on Tuesday, as Pakistan's repeated attempts to interfere in Bangladesh's internal affairs has created an environment which is not conducive to successful holding of the SAARC Summit.
Pakistani's 'repeated and shameless' interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs over the trial of war criminals is out of diplomatic norms, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Dhaka strongly protested Islamabad's meddling in its internal affairs and last year Bangladesh expelled a Pakistani diplomat for alleged funding of Islamist extremists. Following the execution of war criminal Matiur Rahman Nizami and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury the Pakistan Parliament had taken different move against Bangladesh. Even it is trying to push the issue in different forum as an agenda that Bangladesh is violating the Human Rights of the opposition parties leaders in the country.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday India has conveyed to current SAARC Chair Nepal that increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in the internal affairs of the Member States by one country have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad.
Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup disclosed the decision on Tuesday, Vikas also tweeted that regional cooperation and terrorism cannot go together. "India has withdrawn from the SAARC Summit." Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry has written to the SAARC Secretariat and current SAARC chair conveying the message that Bangladesh cannot attend the SAARC Summit due to domestic engagements.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi decided to refrain from joining the Summit.
Tensions between India and Pakistan are growing after militants suspected to have entered from Pakistan stormed an Indian Army base in Uri on September 18, killing 18 Indian soldiers. Meanwhile, Bangladesh also mentioned a particular country's growing interference in the internal affairs of member states as well as the recent terror attack in India.
Afghanistan and Bhutan has also appraised the SAARC chair that they will not be attending the meeting. All these announcements made it clear that the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November has been postponed.
On September 19, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh 'firmly stands' beside India at this difficult hour and expressed deep shock at the terrorist attack on the army base at Uri in Kashmir.
'In line with its 'zero tolerance' policy against terrorism and violent extremism, Bangladesh firmly stands beside India at this difficult hour,' she wrote to her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Bangladesh officials said Bangladesh and India will continue to work together in their 'common endeavour' to eradicate the menace of cross-border terrorism from this region and beyond and both the leaders will further discuss it the Goa event.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh will never compromise, and never compromised in the past either, in terms of issues related to trial of war criminals and execution of Bangabandhu's killers.
Shahriar on Wednesday said the decision not to attend the upcoming SAARC Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan, is purely Bangladesh's own decision.
He said the relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply in recent years after Pakistan's repeated interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs following the trial and execution of war criminals in Bangladesh. Dhaka strongly protested Islamabad's meddling in its internal affairs and last year Bangladesh expelled a Pakistani diplomat for alleged funding of Islamist extremists.
"So the decision to boycott the SAARC summit has no relation with other countries' decisions. It's our own decision," he told reporters at his office at the Foreign Ministry.
Bangladesh, as the initiator of SAARC, the state minister said, believes in regional cooperation and connectivity, "When time and scope will be available, Bangladesh will attend such events.