Pakistan accuses India after cancelling summit

Pakistan has postponed indefinitely a seven nation South Asian summit it was to host next month because rival neighbour India refused to confirm that it would attend.

Participation of all seven members of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, or SAARC, is compulsory for the January 11-13 summit to take place in Islamabad.

“India is the only country that has consistently denied consensus or broke consensus,” said Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Kamran Niaz. “It’s sad and nobody can deny that.”

Nonetheless, India did just that today and accused Pakistan of trying to frustrate regional trade reforms.

External affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said: “India cannot be blamed” for the conference postponement.

“A strange situation had been reached when every meaningful proposal for economic co-operation was being systematically sabotaged by Pakistan,” he said in New Delhi

He said a key issue for the grouping, the drafting of a South Asia free trade agreement, had made no progress.

Pakistan’s Niaz said his country wanted to get SAARC ”back on track as soon as possible.”

“In the face of India’s continuous refusal to confirm its participation there is no other alternative, but to delay,” he said.

Pakistan also accused India of setting preconditions for its attendance.