India has laid the blame of Pakistan’s isolation solely on the nation’s policies that include adopting terrorism and said that that it has had no role to play in it.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said today said that the Saarc nations followed up on their own in choosing not to take part in the summit booked to be held in Islamabad this year, referring to absence of imperative conditions for a helpful discourse.
"We do not speak about such issues. If someone is isolated, it is because of the policies followed by that country. India did not have to do anything, because the countries in one voice said there cannot be constructive dialogue in the terror-tainted atmosphere in the context of Saarc," Swarup said.
He was responding to a query if India had been successful in isolating Pakistan following the September 18 terror attack on Uri army camp in Jammu and Kashmir.
"... the first letter (on non-participation in Saarc summit) came from Afghanistan, followed by Nepal, then by India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Nepal also said it on its own. So when all Saarc countries express the same opinion in one voice -- that the Saarc summit cannot happen in Islamabad in this atmosphere -- you can draw your own conclusions," the MEA spokesman said.
The 19th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November, was indefinitely postponed after India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka pulled out, citing terrorism concerns in the region.
