Pak's 'next SAARC Summit' idea falls through: Refusing to learn lessons, Islamabad gets repeated snubs

New Delhi: Corona-hit world with no face-to-face interactions and only virtual meets of leaders and foreign ministers; yet there is hardly any change in Indo-Pak relations and the acrimonious one-upmanship continues unabated.

From Indian perspective, according to sources there was a modest diplomatic win as Pakistan's keenness and proposal during Foreign Ministers meeting to discuss the 19th SAARC Summit (pending since 2016) "fell through due to lack of consensus".

In the presence of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Thursday, Sept 24, 2020 at a virtual meet urged SAARC member nations to "collectively resolve to defeat" the scourge of terrorism.

 In a tweet, Dr Jaishankar also wrote: "Cross-border terrorism, blocking connectivity and obstructing trade are three key challenges that SAARC must overcome. Only then will we see enduring peace, prosperity and security in our South Asia region".

Pakistan has tried to raise the issue of Kashmir both in SAARC meet and also in CICA forum.

The Conference On Interaction And Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) members consist of: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, South Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

During the weekly briefing in Delhi, MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava answering a question on Pakistan raising the issue of Kashmir in SAARC meet and also the virtual CICA Special Ministerial Meeting was more terse and said: "It is very typical of Pakistan to use such fora to raise bilateral and contentious issues which is inconsistent with the principles and charter of such organizations and their meetings. What else can be expected of a country that indulges in cross-border terrorism as a part of its state policy".

Sources told this scribe that - "One of the agenda items in the SAARC Ministerial meeting was the 

19th SAARC Summit, which was to be hosted by Pakistan. Most countries felt that it was not an opportune 

time for the event considering that member states are preoccupied in dealing with COVID-19 situation. 

So the proposal fell through due to lack of consensus".

To register protest for Uri terror attack in 2016, India had first announced boycott of the SAARC Summit - that 

Islamabad was to host - alleging Pakistan's involvement in the attack.

 Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives also pulled out resulting 

in an indefinite postponement of the summit.

Only this year on March 15 after personal initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, top leaders held a virtual

meeting on Covid19 situations.

Of course, informally the foreign ministers have been meeting on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly.

(UNGA).

Last year, Pakistan foreign minister Qureshi, a known hardliner in Indo-Pak relations, had arrived late at the 

SAARC's Council of Ministers meeting and came only after Dr Jaishankar had made his speech and left the venue.

The last SAARC Summit was hosted by Nepal in November 2014 when Prime Minister Modi and his 

Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had attended the same.

In 2018, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, now deceased, had snubbed Pakistan in New York

as she had immediately left the meeting venue after her remarks and did not have any exchange of 

words with the Pakistani minister.

The Late Minister had also told the meeting that the terrorism was the single largest threat to peace and 

stability in South Asia.

About his participation in Thursday's virtual meet, Pakistani Minister Qureshi issued a series of tweet 

missives and said, "I restated Pakistan’s willingness to host the 19th SAARC Summit and for obstacles 

created in its way to be removed for SAARC to function as an effective instrument of regional cooperation".

In another missive, he wrote: "Highlighted need to condemn and oppose unilateral or illegal measures to 

change status of disputed territories in violation of UNSC resolutions. Such unilateral measures run 

counter to shared objective of SAARC to create regional amity".

Obviously his reference was to the Modi government's decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Lately, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence director general Lt Gen 

Faiz Hameed discussed the prospects of giving Gilgit-Baltistan the status of a province in a meeting with 

the opposition alliance leaders.

However, opposition party PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif  said the issue at stake was 'political'

and the issue should be settled by the people's representatives and "should be decided in Parliament, 

not in the GHQ".

The maxim 'Once bitten twice shy' does not seem to work with Pakistani establishment

and more particularly the foreign policy engine room.

India also made it clear to its western neoghbour that once adequate steps are taken in Pakistan

to counter terror and erase the training centres and hideouts.

"This will enable the two countries to engage and address issues bilaterally.....," MEA said.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's proposal Foreign Ministers meeting to 

discuss the 19th SAARC Summit (pending since 2016) "fell through due to lack of consensus".

At a virtual informal meet of SAARC foreign ministers hosted by Nepal, Dr Jaishankar spoke about "forces that nurture, support and encourage an environment of terror and conflict". 

"Cross-border terrorism, blocking connectivity and obstructing trade are three key challenges that SAARC must overcome. Only then will we see enduring peace, prosperity and security in our South Asia region," he tweeted.

If these were not enough, MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastava sounded more bitter and 

said: "What else can be expected of a country that indulges in cross-border terrorism as a part of its 

state policy."

He was answering questions on Pakistan raising the issue of Kashmir at SAARC meet also 

at the virtual CICA Special Ministerial Meeting.

"It is very typical of Pakistan to use such fora to raise bilateral and contentious issues which is 

inconsistent with the principles and charter of such organizations and their meetings," he said.

Sources said in Delhi that - "One of the agenda items in the SAARC Ministerial meeting was the

19th SAARC Summit, which was to be hosted by Pakistan. Most countries felt that it was not an opportune

time for the event considering that member states are preoccupied in dealing with COVID-19 situation.

So the proposal fell through due to lack of consensus".