COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov. 6 -- An annual summit of seven south Asian countries has been deferred indefinitely because of tensions in the region, Sri Lankan officials said Saturday. The annual conference of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was scheduled to be held in Katmandu, capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, Nov. 26-28, but SAARC chief Chandrika Kumaratunga called off the meeting at the request of an unnamed nation, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said. India had called for the postponement of the summit after a military junta took control of Pakistan. India's Deputy Foreign Minister Ajit Panja had conveyed New Delhi's request to Colombo during a recent visit. Relations between India and Pakistan have frequently interfered with SAARC meetings. In its 14-year existence, SAARC's annual summits have been cancelled on two prior occasions in 1990 and 1992, owing to strained relations between its two large member nations. A statement issued by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said Kumaratunga had decided to defer the 13th SAARC summit. The decision to put off the summit was taken on the request of a member state, the release said, without naming the country. Though Kumaratunga had earlier said that the summit would not be deferred, Sri Lanka agreed with India's request at a time when President Kumaratunga is seeking a second term in office in December's presidential polls. The Sri Lankan government is also currently preoccupied with the ferocious onslaught of the separatist Tamil Tigers, who have wrested control over several military bases in the north over the past several days.
The he deferral of the Katmandu summit means SAARC member nations will not tackle their ambitious economic agenda. The seven nations were to set a date for the implementation of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement, facilitating duty-free trade between member states. ---
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