The 2016 SAARC Summit was originally planned to be held in Islamabad on November 15-19, 2016. But after a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances". The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.
Home Minister P Chidambaram exhibited a refreshing firmness during his talks with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad this week.
As he prepares to host Home Minister P Chidambaram, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Thursday that he would like to discuss all issues that have been "creating irritation" in the bilateral ties in a "transparent" and "very responsible" manner.
Sources say a couple of senior home ministry officials and seven media-persons, including from leading dailies and TV channels, are yet to receive their visas from Islamabad.
India on Sunday said that Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is likely to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Standing Committee meeting in Bhutan early in February. This comes ahead of a possible visit by Pakistan Foreign Minister S M Qureshi to India. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are likely to meet in Thimpu on the sidelines of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting on February 6-7.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani held 'very good talks' in a 'free and frank' manner, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters, after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, for 50 minutes on Thursday.Dr Singh told Gilani that cooperation between the two nations was vital for the progress of SAARC's goals and peace in south Asia.
There is a lot that the SAARC can do if only its two biggest countries, India and Pakistan, leave their disputes back home. Sheela Bhatt gauges the mood at the opening day of the regional summit in Thimphu, Bhutan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the announcement at the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit that began in Thimphu with an apt theme -- Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.
The challenge before us is to translate institutions into activities, conventions into programmes, official statements into popular sentiments. Declarations at summits and official level meetings do not amount to regional cooperation or integration. Regional cooperation should enable freer movement of people, of goods, of services and of ideas. It should help us re-discover our shared heritage and build our common future.
Pakistan has played a spoiler in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's efforts to firm up agreements on developing intra-regional connectivity and establishing a common response to disasters.A Motor Vehicles Agreement, providing for connectivity between Kabul and Dhaka criss-crossing the region, and a pact on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, were scheduled to be signed during the upcoming 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu on April 28-29.
No bilateral meeting has been fixed so far between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Thursday."As of now, no such meeting has been set up between the prime minister and Gilani," she said, adding that Dr Singh will have separate meetings with leaders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan.
Foundation of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Writers and Literature have nominated Pakistani journalist and columnist of rediff.com Hamid Mir for the SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award 2010. Mir works for Geo TV in Islamabad.
In the first high-level contact with Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Colombo on Thursday and rejected his suggestion for resumption of Composite Dialogue till Islamabad took credible steps to end terrorism.
The nation has been put on high alert following intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based terrorists, who are against any thaw in Indo-Pak relations, may strike in a desperate bid to derail the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting in Islamabad.Sources said the advisory issued by the ministry of home affairs has asked all states to maintain increased vigil and take precautionary measures to ensure security.
The home minister's visit to Pakistan can either open the path to a serious re-engagement or regress us to the rhetoric of the last 12 years, writes K C Singh.
The reach of China in other South Asian states has been extraordinary. India's protectionist tendencies have allowed China to don the mantle of regional economic leader. The sooner Indian policy makers realise this and take steps to redress this the better, writes Harsh V Pant
Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries vowed to collectively combat the scourge of terrorism, extremism and insurgency plaguing the region with Pakistan and Bangladesh rejecting claims of those who justified violence in the name of Islam.
Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.
India supports "a fresh SAARC position on Climate Change for COP (Conference of Parties) 16 in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chnage principles and the Bali Action Plan," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, addressing the SAARC Council of Ministers.
India will have the largest contingent of journalists at the XVIth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit that is being held in Thimphu this week.
The Summit on April 28-29, to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will also unveil rules and regulations for the ambitious SAARC University which is in the process of being set up in Delhi.
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan may have 'a brief encounter' in Washington on the sidelines of the April 12-13 Nuclear Security Summit, though proper talks between them are more likely during a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meet in Bhutan in April, a media report said on Saturday. The United States administration would prefer to arrange a proper meeting between the two prime ministers on the margins of the nuclear summit next week.
In the midst of current chill in Indo-Pak relations, a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation home ministers' conference is scheduled next month in Islamabad to which Union Home Minister P Chidambaram plans to go subject to Foreign Office's approval.
Fiat India on Tuesday said that it is planning to export its cars in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to boost its export volumes.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has decided to skip the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Foreign Ministerial meeting in Colombo on Friday and in his absence his deputy E Ahamed would represent India at the meet.
In the first ministerial visit from India to Pakistan since the terror strike on Mumbai, Home Minister P Chidambaram will travel to Islamabad on Friday on a two-day trip, during which he is expected to press for a probe against Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed and seek voice samples of the handlers of the 26/11 terrorists.Chidambaram is visiting Pakistan to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Interior Minister's Conference on Saturday.
The arrest of Madhuri Gupta, a diplomat working in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, on charges of spying will have an impact on the mood of the ongoing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu because the matter is related to India's national security. Gupta, 53, a promotee officer of the ministry of external affairs, was arrested in New Delhi four days ago. Prasad refused to elaborate further on the issue. Gupta used to work as a translator.
A stable, secure and prosperous neighbourhood is a sine qua non for the emergence of a great power. India cannot be merely seen as free-riding on the outside powers for regional stability.
India on Wednesday said some of the arrangements discussed in advance for providing protection to the top leaders did not get implemented.
Recognising the "serious threat" posed by terrorism to the peace and stability of South Asia, the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit on Sunday in a declaration supported "strongest possible cooperation" against the menace and signed a key agreement in this regard.
Terrorism is the biggest threat to South Asia's stability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit on Saturday."Terrorists and extremists don't know borders. We must act with determination to fight terrorism. We cannot lose the battle against ideologies of hatred," said Dr Singh.Terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion during the three-day summit, which started today in Colombo.
He also complimented the United States for making it possible. The civil nuclear initiative was good for India and good for the world, he said in a statement.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday left for Colombo to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit beginning on Saturday, during which terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion. Singh is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the summit and is likely to convey India's concerns over the recent spurt in cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations.
The Bush administration's point man for South Asia, Richard Boucher, has said that while Washington fully recognises the terrorist threat Sri Lanka continues to face from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it should continue acting like a democracy and protect all of its citizens. The senior diplomat feels that there is a need for a political solution "alongside whatever is going on militarily and we hope the Tamil Tigers will see that as well."
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday and discussed the internal security in the country and the forthcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit meeting in Sri Lanka.
Greater physical, economic and people-to-people connectivity among SAARC nations can foster growth and development in the region, he added.
Countries in South Asia on Tuesday agreed to work on further opening up markets for the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, as a measure to deal with the global downturn.
Although Afghanistan will be formally inducted as the eighth member of SAARC on Tuesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta also attended the meet.
Holding Pakistan responsible for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's 'underperformance', India has said the bloc was nowhere near achieving its potential.
Viewing terrorism as a 'serious threat' to South Asia's peace and development, members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on Thursday decided to have regular exchange of information to combat the menace and push efforts for establishing a convention for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances