Comstech first summit in Pakistan cancelled over security concerns

Comstech, a summit established by the Organisation Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1981 to promote capacity building in science and technology, has been cancelled by Pakistan citing security concerns as a reason.

Pakistan had offered to host the first ever summit back in 2013 and it was to be held next month after being postponed in April in the aftermath of the attack Army Public School in Peshawar.

Thirty six member states had already confirmed their participation but the Foreign office decided that the summit may be a security risk for the participating dignitaries. Some non-OIC countries had also shown interest in attending the summit making it particularly important.

In a summary to the Pakistani officials, Comstech officials have called the cancellation extremely embarrassing for Pakistan and said the cancellation has also deeply embarrassed the OIC Secretary General as he had personally visited and invited 16 heads of state to the Islamabad summit and had sent out invitations to the heads of 55 countries.

Officials of the Comstech expect secretariat to be moved out of Pakistan.

A senior official at Ministry of Science and Technology told Dawn that Pakistan would lose $200 to $300 million worth of investment in the field due to the incident.