‘Vajpayee strong advocate of South Asian cooperation’

New Delhi, Aug 17: The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) on Friday condoled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death describing him as a strong advocate of cooperation within the South Asian region. In a message to Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, Saarc Secretary General Amjad Hussain B. Sial said: “We have lost a great statesman, politician, writer, poet, and above all a humane person committed to peace.” Sial, who is from Pakistan and assumed office as Saarc Secretary General in March last year, recalled Vajpayee’s statements at the 10th Saarc Summit in Colombo in 1998, in Kathmandu in 2002 and in Islamabad in 2004 and said: “His vision for a self-reliant and fully integrated South Asia continues to guide the Saarc process even today.” (IANS)