Nepal pushes India for SAARC Summit

Nepal on Friday nudged India for convening of the SAARC summit, saying differences should be resolved through dialogue and the grouping should collectively deal with terrorism and other key challenges facing the region. Reiterating Nepal’s commitment to regional cooperation, Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali called for holding of the summit at the earliest. He asked all the member nations to reactivate the SAARC process and organize the summit at the earliest, as this platform can serve best interests of the people. He referred to last year’s historic talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, saying dialogue was the only way to address differences. “If US President Trump and North Korea’s Kim can meet, then why not (leaders of) other countries,” he asked during an interaction with a group of foreign policy experts and reporters.
It is Pakistan’s turn to host the summit. However, India, has been maintaining that it is difficult to proceed with the summit unless terror acts are stopped. The 2016 SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) Summit was to be held in Islamabad. But after a deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir that year, India expressed its inability to participate in it.
The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan declined to participate in the meet at the behest of India. Maldives and Sri Lanka are the seventh and eighth members of the grouping. “There is no alternative to sitting together and mitigating differences. The problems we (the region) are facing cannot be resolved alone. We need to put collective efforts to deal with various key challenges like climate change and terrorism,” Gyawali said.
The Nepalese foreign minister, who held bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday, said his country has been raising the issue of the SAARC summit with India. SAARC summits are usually held biennially, hosted by a member state in alphabetical order. The member state hosting the summit assumes the chair of the Association. The last SAARC Summit in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held in Islamabad, but after a terrorist attck on an Indian Army camp in Uri (Jammu and Kashmir) that year, India expressed its inability to participate in it. India has always baulked at negotiations with Pakistan on core issue of Kashmir, and even Composite dialogue started from 2004 was stopped on frivolous pretexts. Anyhow, India’s interference in the internal affairs of regional countries is too well-known.
Almost all smaller neighboring countries were annoyed over India’s domineering attitude; however with China’s footprints in Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, Indian influence is waning. Last year, Nepal had declined to be part of the BIMSTEC Military drill, and reportedly, New Delhi told Kathmandu that its decision was not appropriate and its explanation of internal political pressure was not convincing. Nepal’s decision had come just over a week after Kathmandu had hosted a summit of Bimstec countries attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bimstec member states include India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. In the backdrop of Doklam standoff, Bhutan had become crucial for Indian adventurism. Although, all political parties had agreed before the election campaigning that they would not ‘politicize’ sensitive issues like foreign policy, but India factor dominated with rival parties defaming each other on Indo-Bhutan relations. Yet both are fed up with Indian hegemony.