India has turned down Pakistan's invitation to attend the long-awaited 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit pending since November 2016. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday stated in categorical terms that India will not participate in the 19th Saarc Summit to be hosted by Pakistan, the dates for which are yet to be finalised due to India's reluctance to attend.
"That invitation has already been given but we are not responding to that positively. That until and unless Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, there will be no dialogue and we will not participate in Saarc," Swaraj was quoted by Indian media to have stated with regard to Pakistan's invitation.
The 19th Saarc summit was planned to be held in Islamabad on November 15-19, 2016, but India along with like-minded countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan withdrew from the summit in the wake of September18, 2016 Uri attack in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian government's latest decision comes on the same day Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the long-awaited Kartarpur corridor, connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur area of Narowal district with Dera Baba Nanak in India's Gurdaspur district.
"It is very unfortunate that India gave a negative response to Pakistan's invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Saarc summit to be held in Islamabad in the near future," said a Pakistani diplomat on condition of anonymity, saying that Foreign Office spokesperson may give official response to India's refusal.
The diplomat said that according to the Saarc charter, all the decisions should be taken unanimously and the summit cannot be held if one or more member states refuse to attend.
Foreign Office, however, did not give any immediate response to India's refusal to attend the Saarc summit and resume the dialogue process. "There is no need of point-scoring...we want to remain positive," said another diplomat.
"Indian response has always remained negative...Saarc is regional forum that was formed with the objective of promoting regional cooperation. The forum should be free of any politics and not be sabotaged on one or another pretext," said former Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan's speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the corridor was "very positive" and that should have been reciprocated positively.
He said India should have given a positive response to Pakistan's initiative of opening the Kartarpur corridor for facilitation of Sikh pilgrims visiting their holy places in the country. "Pakistan has sent a positive message and now the ball is in India's court," he added.