India underlines terror concerns, says no to SAARC summit in Pakistan
India’s latest statement about its inability to participate in the SAARC summit, planned to be held in Pakistan, clearly signals that the moribund eight-nation South Asian regional grouping is headed for a prolonged spell in wilderness.
In his meeting with his Nepalese counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli in New Delhi on April 8, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that given continuing cross-border terror from Pakistan, it won’t be possible for India to participate in the SAARC summit in Pakistan.
India’s studied position on the SAARC summit in Pakistan underlined the deepening chill in India-Pakistan ties, which was recently strained further due to mutual recriminations over harassment of each other’s diplomats posted in Delhi and Islamabad.
