ISLAMABAD: India has formally conveyed to Pakistan that its Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not attend the eighth finance ministers’ meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) in Islamabad later this week.

In the absence of Mr Jaitley, Secretary of Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das would lead the Indian delegation at the two-day event starting on Thursday, a diplomatic source said.

The ministerial meeting on Friday will be preceded by a meeting of finance secretaries on Thursday.

The Indian government’s decision follows weeks of speculation about the Indian finance minister’s participation in the meeting of the regional bloc.

The decision reflects aggravating tension between the two neighbours over the situation in India-held Kashmir, particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistani authorities of suppressing rights of people of Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

Mr Modi was responding to Pakistani criticism of Indian security forces’ crackdown in occupied Kashmir that has so far caused 83 deaths since the eruption of protests on July 8 over the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani by security agencies.

The Indian government’s decision on Mr Jaitley’s visit was taken in view of the uneasy and tense participation of Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Saarc’s interior ministers’ meeting earlier this month, which he had left midway after exchanging barbs with his host Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

The finance division had throu­gh a media statement last week tried to reassure India that Mr Jaitley would be welcomed. “All guests who participate in the event will receive a warm welcome from Pakistan as it is the host country,” the statement said.

The Indian decision to downgrade its representation at the ministerial meeting and Prime Minister Modi’s tirades against Pakistan suggest that India may either skip the Saarc summit in November or send a lower level representation.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh too is not sending its finance minister Abul Maal A. Muhith to the event. Mr Muhith had in a statement in the Bangladesh parliament in February called Pakistan a rogue state.

Bangladesh’s State Minister for Finance M.A. Mannan will represent his country at the meeting.

Earlier, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had skipped Saarc interior ministers’ meeting.

The finance ministers’ meeting will discuss ways of expanding trade and investment in the region and operation of Saarc Development Fund for infrastructure development. It will also review implementation of decisions taken during the seventh finance ministers’ meeting in Nepal.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016