KATHMANDU, July 11: Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar on Friday hoped that the Saarc summit, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 4-6, would not be delayed again by conflict with India.

“India through one or the other excuse has postponed three summits in the past, including the present one. I hope India will not make an excuse for reverting the summit,” Mr Khokhar said.

He was addressing reporters in the Nepalese capital where foreign secretaries of the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation set the dates for the summit on Thursday.

Separately, Mr Khokhar said he had extended invitations to Nepalese King Gyanendra and Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa to visit Pakistan. He said Pakistan had agreed to increase the number of scholarships to Nepalese students.—AFP