Lahore: SAARC Chamber Pakistan chapter Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik Thursday vehemently urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to play role in reviving the stalled SAARC Summit process for sustainable prosperity and durable peace in the region and avoid blocking bid if Pakistan hosts SAARC Summit 2018.
Taking to media here today, Iftikhar Malik said Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to regional cooperation and connectivity for promoting peace and accelerating the pace of economic development in the region.
He said that Pakistan has always been following a policy of maintaining cordial relations with the member countries of the SAARC forum.
“We really hope that SAARC, which is regional organisation to move forward beyond the differences that India would be able to come to Pakistan for the summit because in the end we are neighbours,” he added. He said he is sanguine about the future of the SAARC as countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka
and the Maldives have already supported for SAARC summit in Islamabad. He further said Nepal is the current Chair of SAARC and is keen to pass on that responsibility to Pakistan. The 19th summit scheduled in 2016 in Islamabad could not take place due to India’s decision to boycott the event after the terror attack on an army camp in Uri.
He said that now Indian government should avoid winning Hindu extremists votes on the pretension of anti-Pakistan slogan and such kind of political based skirmishes would not be in the large interest of the poor strata of this region. He feared that India could block any attempt of SAARC revival as Indian parliamentary elections are due in May 2019 while hardliner Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like to tweak his anti-Pakistan posture further in the hope of getting the Hindu nationalistic vote in a closely
fought election.
During the Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections, he had dubbed the rival Congress Party a “stooge” of Pakistan and had declared that the latter’s victory would be “Pakistan’s victory”.
Iftikhar Malik further said it is baseless Indian propaganda that China is pressurizing the SAARC member states to hold the 20th SAARC Summit in Islamabad. “It is an important organisation both for Pakistan and India.
This is not an organisation to settle disputes but it is exclusively designed to work for the common challenges and for common development of the region ,” he added.