Terrorism will be high on the agenda of the coming three-day SAARC summit beginning on January 4 at Kathmandu where India and Pakistan have committed to attend at the highest level. “Terrorism that affects us internally and collectively will be dealt with in the summit,” Nepalese ambassador to India Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, told reporters in New Delhi at a briefing on the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
Asked whether the summit would take place in the wake of growing chill in the relations between India and Pakistan and speculation that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee might not attend the summit, he said, “All the governments, including the two, have given us assurance that they will be attending the summit.” To a question whether India had communicated its intention even after the terror attack on Parliament, Thapa said that there has been consistency in their communication. To a query about whether the summit could go ahead with any one of the heads of state or government attending it, he said the convention in the past was that all the executive heads of state and government of the member countries should participate. Bureau Report