Islamabad to skip Saarc anti-terror experts meet

NEW DELHI: Pakistan is likely to skip a meeting of Saarc anti-terror experts scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Thursday. With only two days left for the meeting, Pakistan has so far not conveyed the names of officials who will attend the meet aimed “to strengthen the Saarc antiterror mechanism.”

The meeting is likely to be attended by all other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, apart from the host. “All the countries have conveyed the names of experts who will be attending the discussion, we are only awaiting the names of Pakistan officials,” said a senior home ministry official handling the Saarc event.

Officials told ET that they expect Islamabad to nominate a representative wither from their or from New Delhi to attend the discussion.

“In case, the group is coming from Pakistan, we will need to seek a prior security clearance that may be difficult at the last minute. Alternatively, they can designate an official from their embassy in New Delhi. But so far, no one has been nominated,” added the official.

Officials admitted that Pakistan may be dragging its feet on nominating any official after home minister Rajnath Singh’s statement, “Pakistan as a terrorist state” needed to be “identified” and “isolated.”

The two-day Saarc meet is likely to be presided by chief of Intelligence Bureau Dineshwar Sharma who will hold discussion with the representatives of anti-terror forces of other member-countries. During the meet, Saarc nations aim to strengthen functioning of Saarc Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk. The desk was established in Colombo in 1995 to collate, analyse and disseminate information on terrorist offences, tactics, strategies and methods in the region.