EAM Jaishankar's Dig At Pakistan, says ‘SAARC Not Going Forward as One Member Fuels Terrorism’

New Delhi: Taking a dig at Pakistan without naming the neighbouring country, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on Saturday said that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has stopped going forward and meetings of the regional grouping have not happened in the last few years as one of its members is practicing cross-border terrorism. 

The EAM's remarks comes ahead of his scheduled visit to Pakistan in mid-October to attend a key meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Islamabad.

Jaishankar Takes Dig At Pakistan

"At the moment, SAARC is not moving forward. We have not had a meeting of SAARC for a very simple reason, there is one member of SAARC who is practising cross-border terrorism, at least against one more member of SAARC, maybe more," Jaishankar said in response to a query on the revival of the grouping at an event in New Delhi. 

"If you are all sitting together and cooperating, and at the same time this kind of terrorism goes on... it actually poses a challenge for us that do you ignore it and go ahead, and in which case you are normalising it, you are accepting it that this is a legitimate tool of statecraft," he added.

Since 2016, SAARC has struggled to be effective, as its biennial summits have not been held since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014.

SAARC and Its History

The SAARC is a regional bloc comprising India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh , Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Established during a summit in 1985, its original members are Bangladesh , Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan , and Sri Lanka. Following the region's rapid growth, Afghanistan was granted full-member status, while other countries hold observer status. SAARC upholds the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, and national independence as it seeks to achieve sustainable economic growth.

"Pak Still Practicing Terrorism"

"Terrorism is something which is unacceptable and despite a global view of it, if one of our neighbours continues to do it, then there must be a pause to it... it cannot be business as usual in SAARC. That's the reason why the SAARC meeting has not happened in recent years," Jaishankar said.

He said this during an interaction after delivering the Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance organised by the IC Centre for Governance here.

But, because SAARC meetings have not happened, does not mean the regional activities have stopped, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)