‘Saarc Summit boycot is Dhaka’s own decision’

Saarc’s effectiveness has apparently become questionable once again as its member states are waiting for a formal communication from the Saarc Secretariat to call off its 19th Summit as a number of countries opted out from it. However, there had been no communication between the Saarc Secretariat, Kathmandu and the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry until yesterday evening. Contacted, Bangladesh Ambassador to Nepal Mashfee Binte Shams told UNB that the mission is not under the channel the Saarc Secretariat maintains while communicating any such decision. She said the Saarc Secretariat will convey its decision to all Saarc member states through their respective foreign ministries. Diplomatic sources in Nepal, however, said the Saarc Summit will be called off as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan followed India’s decision to stay away from the November Summit to be held in Islamabad. However, quoting Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria, Radio Pakistan yesterday reported that Pakistan will host the 19th Summit. The report did not mention how Pakistan will host the event without four Saarc members. Earlier yesterday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said the decision to boycott Islamabad Saarc Summit is purely Bangladesh’s own decision. “It has no relation with other countries’ decisions. It’s our own decision,” he told reporters at his office at the Foreign Ministry. Without taking any name, Shahriar said a particular country’s repeated attempts to interfere in Bangladesh’s internal affairs has created an environment which is not conducive to successful holding of Saarc Summit. “We have conveyed it to current Saarc chairman [Nepal and Saarc Secretariat] on Tuesday that Bangladesh is not attending the Summit,” he said. The state minister said Bangladesh, as the initiator of Saarc process, believes in regional cooperation and connectivity which was also conveyed to the Saarc chair and Saarc Secretariat. “When time and scope will be available, Bangladesh will attend such events,” he added. The relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply in recent years after Pakistan’s repeated interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs following the trial and execution of war criminals. The state minister said: “Bangladesh has never compromised and will never compromise in terms of issues related to the trial of war criminals and execution of the killers of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.” Dhaka strongly protested Islamabad’s meddling in its internal affairs and last year Bangladesh expelled a Pakistani diplomat for alleged funding of Islamist extremists. Meanwhile, the 19th Saarc Summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November, is likely to be postponed as Bangladesh and India on Tuesday announced its inability to join it apparently amid regional tensions. The summit is automatically postponed or cancelled if one member-country skips the event, Kathmandu Post reported yesterday. However, an official here said they are yet to receive any message of postponement from the Saarc Chair Nepal. Earlier on Tuesday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi decided to refrain from joining the Summit. Bhutan and Afghanistan will also skip the summit, according to diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi. A senior official here, on Tuesday night, said the Prime Minister has decided to skip the summit following Pakistan’s “repeated and shameless” interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs over the trial of war criminals. The Ministry of External Affairs, India on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not travel to Islamabad to participate in the Saarc summit in November as the atmosphere is “not conducive to a successful summit.” India has conveyed to current Saarc Chair Nepal that 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 in November 2016. “In the prevailing circumstances, the government of India is unable to participate in the proposed Summit in Islamabad,” it said.