Pak snubbed in Maldives too as gathering backs India on J&K

NEW DELHI: The just-concluded South Asian Speakers’ Summit in the Maldives was of the opinion that Kashmir was an internal matter of India, sidestepping Pakistan’s narrative on the situation.

The Male Declaration was adopted on Monday by the Speakers of respective parliaments of South Asian countries. It was adopted a day after India snubbed an attempt by Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue during the summit in Majlis (Maldives’ Parliament).

The South Asian Speakers’ Summit, while adopting the Male Declaration, ignored all suggestions on Kashmir made by the Pakistani delegation. The efforts of the Pakistan delegation to get at least a passing reference to the Kashmir issue in the declaration did not succeed, one of the people said. The summit was of the opinion that Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter of India, he added. Pakistan’s attempts to refer to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor also could not find a place in the Male Declaration, the people said.


Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who headed the Indian delegation, proposed several amendments to the draft declaration and those were unanimously accepted, they said.