December 10, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 5,1423

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NEW DELHI, Dec 9: India on Monday rejected Pakistan’s charge that it was responsible for an indefinite postponement of the next Saarc summit, accusing Islamabad instead of systematically sabotaging meaningful progress on economic cooperation among the member countries, the Press Trust of India said.

“Now that Pakistan has announced postponement of the summit, then it is a choice they have made,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters. He was asked to comment on Islamabad’s decision earlier in the day to cancel the proposal to hold the summit from January 11 to 13 in Islamabad.

The indefinite postponement of the summit comes amid speculation that Saarc members were getting ready to get the United States to play an important role in shepherding it.

According to a clued-in columnist for The Hindu, among the latest ideas on accelerating regional cooperation in the subcontinent is “letting the United States play a more active role in the Saarc”.

Of the two roads for India’s approach to Saarc, “one is for India to take the path of positive unilateralism,” The Hindu said.

The other is to mobilize global economic forces to step up the pace of regional economic cooperation; that is where the US comes in.

“The American interest in promoting free trade in South Asia and mega trans-border projects such as natural gas pipelines, regional electricity grids and highways could be mobilized by India to accelerate the economic integration in the region,” the paper said.

It said the US need not be the only external force that can facilitate economic cooperation in the subcontinent. China, too, can be an important player.

“Well before Washington has taken a shine to Saarc, Beijing had shown an inclination to work with the regional association. It has also been eager to initiate sub-regional cooperation with the eastern part of the subcontinent,” analyst C. Rajamohan said.