Dhaka has cited the “constant interference” in the internal affairs of Bangladesh by “one country” being the trigger for a boycott of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, the state minister for foreign affairs has said.
“This has created an environment which is not conducive to the hosting of the summit,” Md Shahriar Alam said on Wednesday while replying to questions from the media at his office.
That ‘one country’ is clearly Pakistan as Islamabad interfered in Bangladesh’s trials of those who had committed crimes against humanity in the 1971 War of Independence by issuing statements and summoning Dhaka’s envoy to its foreign office.
The state minister’s comment came a day after Bangladesh wrote to the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu that it was not joining the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad due in November.
Confirming the decision on Tuesday night, the state minister had told bdnews24.com that it was “due to busy internal affairs”.
The summit of the South Asian grouping is set to be postponed, if not cancelled, as India, Bhutan and Afghanistan have also announced their boycott amid a diplomatic war between India and Pakistan following the recent terrorist attacks on an Indian army base in Kashmir.
Eighteen Indian 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.
The state minister, however, said Bangladesh’s decision not to join the summit was its “own”. “It has no relation with the decisions other countries have taken,” he said.
Shahriar Alam said Bangladesh, as the initiator of the SAARC process, still remained “steadfast” in its commitment to regional cooperation, connectivity and contacts. But, he said, Dhaka believed that these could only go forward in a more congenial atmosphere.
“When time and scope are available, Bangladesh will attend such events,” he said, adding that the postponement of the SAARC summit is not new in the three-decade old organisation.
He, however, asserted that Bangladesh would never compromise on issues related to its independence and sovereignty, Bangabandhu, and trials of war criminals.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali, however, told the Indian media on Wednesday that Pakistan was a part of the region and had to contribute to regional harmony.
“It’s a setback. After Uri, we believe situation is not conducive to holding the summit,” he said.
The envoy hoped that instead of contradictions, Pakistan would come to the path of co-operation, according to a report of the Indian Express online.
“We have tried to side by side promote sub-regional cooperation — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. We’d still like to continue with the SAARC process and hope there’ll be a change and Pakistan comes to the path of co-operation instead of contradiction,” he said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs earlier in its statement said: “Increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region and growing interference in the internal affairs of member states by one country have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad”.
Pakistan termed India’s announcement as ‘unfortunate’.
Its foreign ministry spokesperson said, “While we have not received any official communication in this regard, the Indian announcement is unfortunate…We will continue to work to that end in the larger interest of the people in this region.”
Source: Bd news24