Bhutan obeys India’s order not to attend SAARC

Bhutan has obeyed its big brother’s order not to participate in the upcoming summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Bhutan’s prime minister’s office wrote to Nepal, who is currently the chair of the regional bloc, informing its inability to attend the 19th SAARC summit to be held in Islamabad in November.

Following the killing of its 17 soldiers in Kashmir by alleged Pakistani rebels, India has withdrawn from attending the SAARC summit and put pressure on other nations not to attend.

India has long played role in making SAARC weaker and devised and alternative regional bloc called BIMSTEC which excludes Pakistan.

Under SAARC charter, failure to attend by one nation, the summit is cancelled. The summit has been cancelled for several times in the past due, all due to dispute between India and Pakistan.

Bhutan’s statement reads, ‘As one of the founding members of SAARC, the royal government of Bhutan is strongly committed to the SAARC process and strengthening of regional cooperation and is hopeful that the situation would return to normalcy to enable early and successful convening of the 19th SAARC summit.’