The 19th SAARC summit was to be held in Pakistan's capital Islamabad in November. (File)
Highlights
- SAARC Summit was to be held between Nov 9-10 in Islamabad
- India and four other nations had announced boycott of the summit over Uri
- Pakistani terrorists had struck Indian Army's base in Uri, killing 20
Pakistan has said it will announce new dates for the regional SAARC summit in Islamabad after India and four other nations declined to participate following the Uri terror attack blamed on Pakistani terrorists.
Sri Lanka on Friday became the fifth nation to express its unwillingness to attend the upcoming 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation or SAARC Summit, saying the prevailing environment in the region is not conducive for holding the summit.
SAARC has eight members. India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan have already said they will not attend the summit scheduled to be held on November 9-10, 2016. Maldives and Nepal have not joined the move.
The unprecedented boycott of the summit follows India's announcement of diplomatically isolating Pakistan, which it blames for harbouring terrorists including those who struck the Army base in Uri earlier this month killing 20 soldiers.
In a statement, the Pakistan Foreign Office said, it "deplores India's decision to impede the SAARC process" by not attending the summit.
It claimed that the spirit of the SAARC Charter is "violated" when a member state casts the shadow of its bilateral problems on the multilateral forum for regional cooperation.
Nepal, the present chair of the SAARC, had earlier said that the summit of the South Asian regional grouping cannot take place if even one member country notifies its inability to participate in the event.
Citing continuous cross border terrorism by Pakistan, India had announced earlier this week that "in the prevailing circumstances, the Government of India is unable to participate in the proposed Summit in Islamabad."