Pakistan backs out of democracy summit.

Pakistan has decided to not participate in the second Summit for Democracy and has chosen to engage with the United States and the co-hosts bilaterally, the Foreign Office said Tuesday.

World leaders will gather virtually this week for the US-organised summit, an event critics say illustrates the halting progress the Biden administration has made in advancing human rights and democracy as a focus of its foreign policy.

The US had extended an invitation to Pakistan to attend the two-day virtual summit, starting from Tuesday.

'The summit process is now at an advanced stage and therefore, Pakistan would engage bilaterally with the US and co-hosts of the summit to promote and strengthen democratic principles and values and work towards advancing human rights and the fight against...