Bangladesh is boycotting the SAARC summit in Islamabad in November amid a diplomatic war between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attacks on an Indian army base in Kashmir.
A foreign ministry official told bdnews24.com that they had informed the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu about the decision on Tuesday.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam confirmed it to bdnews24.com and said they would not attend the summit “due to busy internal affairs”.
Seventeen soldiers were killed and many more injured in the Sep 18 terrorist attack in Uri.
Bangladesh condemned the attack and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina conveyed her support to New Delhi in this ‘difficult’ time.
India on Tuesday also announced that it would not attend the summit with spokesperson Vikash Swarup saying regional cooperation and terror do not go together.
Swarup said some other SAARC member-states have also expressed their reservations about attending the Islamabad meet.
Apart from Bangladesh and India, the other countries unwilling to attend are said to be Bhutan and Afghanistan, Indian news agency IANS reported.
Afghan ambassador to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali told NDTV last week that his country was willing to consider a joint boycott of the SAARC summit along with India and other members.
The current SAARC chair, Nepal, may announce the postponement of the summit anytime now as four of the eight member states are not joining the summit of the South Asian grouping.
In a statement, India said increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in the internal affairs of SAARC member-states “by one country” have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th SAARC summit.
Islamabad also interfered in Bangladesh’s war crimes trial of those who committed crimes against humanity in 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan by issuing statements and summoning Dhaka’s envoy.
India announced its decision to pull out hours after Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit was summoned to South Block in New Delhi and handed over Pakistan’s “proof of cross-border origin” of the Uri terror attack.
Spokesperson Swarup, however, said India remains “steadfast in its commitment to regional cooperation, connectivity and contacts but believes that these can only go forward in an atmosphere free of terror”.
India has been hyping its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan over the past few days after the terror attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced last week during the BJP conclave in Kerala that the sacrifices of the Indian soldiers killed in Uri would not go waste and India will diplomatically isolate Pakistan.
Tuesday’s move came as India has been unsparing in its attack on Pakistan in the UN General Assembly for ‘sponsoring terror’.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the floor of the UNGA asked Pakistan to stop dreaming about Kashmir and announced that Jammu and Kashmir is “an integral part of India and will always remain so.”
Source: Bd news24
