The twice-postponed meeting of SAARC Home Ministers to discuss ways to combat terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking in the region will be held on June 26 in Islamabad.
This was announced by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the margins of the SAARC summit here today.
Mr. Qureshi welcomed Home Minister P. Chidambaram to Islamabad on June 26 for the SAARC Interior Ministers’ conference.
Better coordination among security agencies and sharing of information to effectively combat terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking are some of the issues that are expected to be discussed by the SAARC Home Ministers during their meeting in June.
The police chiefs of SAARC countries will meet ahead of the gathering of the Home Ministers.
The Home Ministers’ meeting was scheduled to be last held in February but was deferred at the behest of Nepal, which expressed its inability to attend it due to domestic compulsions. It was earlier also postponed in November 2008 at the request of Bangladesh because of Parliamentary polls in that country.
The first such meeting was held in Dhaka in May 2006 and then at New Delhi in October 2007.
The grouping comprises India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan.
