The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday categorically rejected the "false claims and tendentious remarks" by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson regarding the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

According to a report by The Express Tribune, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday had reiterated Pakistan's invitation to India and other members of SAARC for the next summit in Islamabad, adding that New Delhi could join the moot virtually if it did not want to attend in-person.

No SAARC summit has taken place since 2014. The 19th summit, scheduled to be held in 2016 in Islamabad, could not go ahead after India pulled out, blaming Pakistan for an attack on its army brigade in Uri – a town in occupied Kashmir. Under the SAARC charter, a meeting of the heads of government cannot be held if any one of the member states does not join.

In response to Qureshi's remarks, Indian Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media on Thursday that it was "aware of the background" regarding why the summit had not been held since 2014.

"There has been no material change in the situation since then. Therefore, there is still no consensus that would permit holding of the summit," he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

In a statement issued today, FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said "India’s obstruction of the SAARC process was an established fact".

"Motivated by its partisan reasons, and acting in violation of charter provisions requiring exclusion of bilateral issues, India was responsible for stymieing the 19th SAARC summit scheduled to take place in Pakistan in 2016," he said.

The spokesperson added that India's "myopic attitude" was rendering a valuable platform for regional cooperation increasingly dysfunctional.

"Pakistan hoped that India would review its self-serving approach and enable the SAARC process to move forward for the progress and prosperity of the peoples of South Asia. For its part, Pakistan remained ready to host the next SAARC summit as soon as the artificial obstacles created in its way were removed," the statement said.