Saarc done, all eyes now on BIMSTEC event

NEW DELHI: The Saarc summit was formally postponed after Nepal, the current chair, notified it on Sunday.

In a strongly-worded statement, the Nepalese foreign ministry said the regional environment was not conducive to enable a Saarc summit at this point and it would be postponed.

"To achieve peace and stability in the region, Saarc member states must, among others, ensure that their respective territories are not used by terrorists for cross-border terrorism," Nepal said. The statement added: "Nepal has always condemned all acts of terror in our own region.

Most recently, Nepal has condemned the attack on the Indian Army base in Uri, Kashmir on September 18, 2016, that resulted in the loss of life of Indian soldiers." The Nepalese statement, the last among the neighbours to issue one, formally puts the lid on the Saarc process for the present.

Soon, leaders from most Saarc countries will be in India for the BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit. The Centre is reportedly considering inviting the leaders of Maldives and Afghanistan (who are not BIMSTEC members) to the summit, and thereby hold a Saarc-minus-one meeting in India. It would be a signal to Pakistan that the neighbourhood is prepared to shame it for supporting terror, and it is not just an Indian whim.

This is not the first Saarc summit to be postponed. In 2005, Manmohan Singh refused to travel to Dhaka for the summit in February after Awami League leaders were killed. The summit was postponed to November of that year.

It should be remembered that Saarc was created as a neighbourhood platform to keep Indian power in check, and Pakistan used to hold much greater equity than India.