New Delhi: Pakistan has backtracked from the South Asian road connectivity project ahead of meetings to set the agenda for the 19^th SAARC summit in Islamabad this year.

Ministers and officials of the eight-member SAARC will hold a series of meetings in Kathmandu from Monday to plan for the summit to be hosted by Pakistan. But a vital motor vehicles pact will not be part of the agenda, BSS reported referring to a Hindustan Times report.

The pact would have allowed free movement of passenger and cargo vehicles within the SAARC nations—India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

But a blueprint for regional integration has been on hold because India and Pakistan had backed off from the connectivity plans at crucial junctures.

Quoting sources, the report said Pakistan informed India in February that it needed more time to decide on the project and wanted SAARC transport ministers’ meeting deferred.

Pakistan refused to sign the pact at the Kathmandu summit in November. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Bhutan signed an agreement in June 2015 to pave the way for unhindered passage of passenger and cargo vehicles of the countries through each other’s territory.