Pakistan on Friday said the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation conference to be held in Islamabad in November has been postponed. The announcement came soon after Sri Lanka joined four other Saarc nations in its decision to back out of the summit. It was reported earlier that the meet was likely to be cancelled as India, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh had all said they will not attend the meet scheduled for November 9-10.

Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs stated that a new set of dates for the summit will be announced soon. It also said India's decision "to derail the summit effectively contradicts Prime Minister Modi’s own call to fight against poverty in the region", ANI reported.

India had announced on Tuesday, September 27, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the Saarc summit in light of growing cross-border terrorism and because one country had created an environment "not conducive" to hold the meet. Pakistan had said they had not received any official communication in this regard. The announcement was made amid worsening Indo-Pakistan relations following the militant attack on an Army camp in Kashmir's Uri sector on September 18.