Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz told the SAARC Foreign Ministers' Conference on the sidelines of UN General Assembly Session in New York yesterday that the 14-year-old SAARC group has fallen short of what it aspired to be because of a ``lack of political will'' and the ``vicissitudes of the prevailing political climate,'' according to APP news agency.

The association has, ``consciously avoided engaging in efforts to address, leave alone resolve, regional disputes and mutual suspicions,'' Aziz said in an obvious reference to SAARC's repeated rejection of discussing any bilateral political issue between its members as per its charter.

In an apparent bid to call for a change in the SAARC charter, he asserted that ``the organization has reached a political level ofmaturity where it should address political issues that had stood in the way of meaningful cooperation.''

Aziz clearly indicated that Islamabad wants the Indo-Pakistan political differences to be discussed at the SAARC level by saying ``after the nuclearisation of South Asia there is a special sense of urgency to address the security issue.''

Aziz also referred to the study carried out by a group of eminent persons, following a suggestion by Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif at the Male SAARC summit two years ago on the functioning of SAARC and said, ``as we prepare for the future, we should learn from our shortcomings which have hindered the association from realizing its vast potential.''

India had earlier repeatedly opposed any move by Pakistan to bring Indo-Pak political issues at the SAARC level for discussion arguing that it goes against the charter of the seven nation grouping which calls for only social and economic cooperation among member countries.

But Pakistan seems determined to once againraise the political issue at the 11th SAARC summit to be held in Kathmandu from November 26 to 28 as only last month Sharif, while accepting the invitation to attend the summit from Nepalese Foreign Minsiter Dr Ram Sharan Mahat here, had said that the socio-economic cooperation among the seven members of the region is hampered due to the ``lack of an enabling environment of mutual trust and understanding'' while insisting that issues of development, peace and security are inter-linked.