Pakistan to miss Saarc security meet in Delhi

New Delhi: Amid a spike in bilateral tensions in the wake of the Uri attack, Pakistan is giving a miss to a two-day meeting of security experts and intelligence top brass from Saarc member nations beginning here from Thursday. Official sources said that the conclave being hosted by Director of Intelligence Bureau, Dineshwar Sharma, will be attended by senior officials of intelligence agencies of other Saarc nations -- Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan. Director General of Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan, Aftab Sultan, is however not attending, sources said. The meeting on Thursday and Friday is being hosted as per the recommendation of the Saarc Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism. Official sources told IANS that the two-day meet only reflects "high priority being attached for regional cooperation in security related matters and anti-terrorism activities". As per schedule, the deliberations would dwell on the functioning of the existing anti-terrorism mechanisms in the region including the Saarc Terrorist Offences Monitoring Desk (STOMD), intelligence sharing and police cooperation. There may be also recommendations aimed to strengthen the existing mechanisms and discuss potential new areas of cooperation.