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Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Press Trust of India file photo
Prime Minister Narendra Modi winning accolades from leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka for launching the South Asia satellite has prompted Pakistan to blame India for its (Pakistan’s) absence from the project.
Islamabad has pointed fingers at India’s “unwillingness” to allow other Saarc countries to participate in the development of a Saarc satellite as one of the main reasons for it to quit.
Explaining Pakistan’s absence, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Saturday said, “As India was not willing to develop the project on a collaborative basis, it was not possible for Pakistan to support it as a regional project under the umbrella of Saarc.”
Zakaria said India at the 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu in 2014 had offered to gift a Saarc satellite to member countries.
Islamabad has pointed fingers at India’s “unwillingness” to allow other Saarc countries to participate in the development of a Saarc satellite as one of the main reasons for it to quit.
Explaining Pakistan’s absence, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Saturday said, “As India was not willing to develop the project on a collaborative basis, it was not possible for Pakistan to support it as a regional project under the umbrella of Saarc.”
Zakaria said India at the 18th Saarc summit in Kathmandu in 2014 had offered to gift a Saarc satellite to member countries.
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