India leads pull-out from summit hosted by Pakistan Published duration 28 September 2016

image copyright AFP image caption Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated in recent months

A South Asian summit due to be held in Pakistan may be called off after India and three other countries pulled out amid tensions over Kashmir.

India said on Tuesday that the environment was "not conducive" to holding the summit, which is due to take place in Islamabad in November.

Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan joined the withdrawal on Wednesday.

India accuses Pakistan of being behind a deadly militant attack on its forces in Kashmir, something Pakistan denies.

Officials in Nepal, which currently chairs the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc), said they still hoped the meeting could go ahead.

India has accused Pakistan-based militants of an attack that killed 18 soldiers in Kashmir earlier this month.

"India has conveyed to current Saarc Chair Nepal that increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in the region... have created an environment that is not conducive to the successful holding of the 19th Saarc Summit," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In the prevailing circumstances, the government of India is unable to participate in the proposed summit in Islamabad."

The 18 September attack on a military base in Indian-administered Kashmir was the deadliest of its kind for years.

Islamabad says India's stance is a "blatant attempt" to deflect attention from human rights abuses in the region.

More than 80 people, nearly all anti-government protesters, have died in more than two months of violence against Indian rule.

Both India and Pakistan claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in its entirety but control only parts of it.

Related Topics Afghanistan

Kashmir

India

Asia

Pakistan

Bhutan

Bangladesh