Let’s shun Saarc meet in Pakistan, Afghanistan tells India

NEW DELHI: India found support from Afghanistan in its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on Tuesday. Afghan envoy to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali said that countries in the region should come together to boycott the Saarc summit in Islamabad over the host nation's role in "destabilising" the neighbourhood.

In an interview to NDTV, Abdali said the terrorism being unleashed by Pakistan was lethal and systematic as also state-sponsored and called on neighbouring countries to unite to end the violence. Asked if India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh should join hands to boycott the Saarc summit in November, he said there should be a comprehensive effort to stamp out terror.

We have to make sure that we bring the maximum number of countries and I am sure most of the countries in South Asia are in line with what Afghanistan and India think," Abdali said. He said the country spoiling regional stability should be singled out.

"Definitely, we should single a country that spoils our unity and spoils regional stability and peace and that stops integration and connectivity," he said. "There must be zero tolerance (towards terrorism). This is state-sponsored terrorism. It is no more an issue of non-state actors. Now, there is ample proof of this as state-sponsored terrorism and, therefore, we have to revisit our mechanisms. We have a global war on terror that must be revisited," Abdali said.