Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan has said that there is no weight in India's justifications for not attending the 13th Saarc summit in Dhaka, and the decision has disappointed the people and authorities in Bangladesh. India announced its inability to attend the summit at a time when all the necessary preparations for the conference were finalised and the programming committee was in session, the spokesman told PTV in a telephonic interview on Friday.
He said India has given two reasons for not attending the summit, which include dismissal of government in Nepal and deteriorating security conditions in Bangladesh.
However, on February 1, the Nepalese King had announced his participation and the government of Bangladesh had made appropriate security arrangements.
He said, according to India's point of view, if there were any security concerns it could discuss the situation with Pakistan and Bangladesh being the sitting chairman and the host respectively.
But unfortunately, India announced unilateral decision, he added.
He said the frequent postponement of the summit would severely mar the reputation of the body, adding, once the programme was finalised all the member states should respect it.
Originally, he said, the summit was due in January 2005 but it was deferred due to Tsunami phenomena and the new dates were fixed on the India's choice to which all the member states had endorsed.
Unfortunately, India refused to attend the summit on dates, which that country itself had chosen, he added. To a question he said, the proposals are coming to check the reoccurring of this phenomena but the disciplines and traditions of Saarc ask for the participation of all member states in the summit.
He said the situation has given an impression in the outside world that whether this organisation is serious in promoting regional cooperation or not.
Masood said that Pakistan had proposed that Saarc, in spite of working in isolation, should work in partnership with other organisations. But on being failed to conduct its summits on time, its ability to work with other organisations is being questioned, he added. He said Pakistan's performance as chairman of the body remained excellent.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz as chairman of the forum was trying to make it more practical. He wanted to reform the organisation itself so that it could effectively meet the challenges in New World order, the spokesman said.
He said: "The priorities put forth by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz are in the sight of all member states and they are expected to focus on them."
India being a big state in the body is expected to share more burden in this regard, he added. He said after living under the clouds of tension for decades the start of dialogue between India and Pakistan had given a new life to the organisation.
Pakistan in the capacity of chairman has not only promoted the idea of regional cooperation world across, but has also secured the status of observer for Saarc in the United Nations.
Responding to another question he said, "Pakistan wants an earlier determination of new dates for Saarc summit, but it can be done only with the consent of all member states."
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