After Home Minister Rajnath’s insult in Pakistan, Arun Jaitley decides to skip SAARC FM’s meet
NEW DELHI:With India’s relations with Pakistan touching a new low, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is likely to give a miss to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Finance Ministers’ meet in Islamabad scheduled for August 25-26.
“Ultimately, it is the government’s decision whether the Finance Minister goes to Islamabad or not. But so far, he is not likely to go. I think this is one way to snub Pakistan,” Bharatiya Janata Party National Secretary Sidharth Nath Singh told on Tuesday.
The possibility arises after Home Minister Rajnath Singh was given a cold shoulder by Pakistan authorities when he visited Pakistan this month to attend the Saarc Home/Interior Ministers’ conference. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar compared Pakistan with hell. “Going to Pakistan and going to hell is the same thing,” Parrikar said in Rewari in Haryana. He did not elaborate.
According to Government sources the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das will represent India at the two-day event. The conference is taking place weeks after the SAARC Home Ministers’ conference that was held last month.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken part in the conference where he called for tough action against terrorism and countries supporting it, saying terrorists should not be glorified as “martyrs”.Pakistan had blocked news media organisations from covering Rajnath Singh’s speech which received bipartisan condemnation in Parliament.
“I did not see whether my speech was covered live or not. The media personnel from DD, ANI and PTI reporters who had come from India were not allowed to enter,” Singh had said in Parliament. Rajnath also made it clear that he was not treated well in Pakistan, confirming that he skipped a lunch hosted by his counterpart during a meeting of SAARC ministers.
“It is true that Pakistan Interior Minister (Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan) invited everyone for lunch. But then he left in his car. I also left. I have no complaints or grudges as I had not gone there to have lunch,” Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Finance Ministry officials have said that almost all regional countries, except Bangladesh, have confirmed their participation in the conference.
