ISLAMABAD, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tuesday regretted that New Delhi had denied an offer tovisit India by the Pakistani foreign minister next month to personally invite India to an upcoming regional summit.

　　Leaders from the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are due to hold their 12th summit in Pakistan in January. SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal,Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

　　Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri Monday offered to visit India as the second stop of his visits next month to SAARC members to personally deliver letters of invitation to their leaders. Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said Monday that Kasuri's visit was unnecessary.

　　"The Indian minister's remarks were not only discourteous but also reflected his utter contempt for South Asian cultural values,traditions of hospitality and established SAARC practice," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Associated Press ofPakistan.

　　He said that the Government of Pakistan has taken due notice ofthe remarks and the letter of invitation to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would be delivered through other diplomatic channels as suggested by Sibal.

　　The spokesman said that the foreign minister of Pakistan duringhis recent visits to some of SAARC capitals had received tremendous support for the continuation of the SAARC process.

　　He also expressed the hope that India would not disrupt the SAARC summit as it did in the past.

　　The 12th SAARC summit was originally planned for last January, but was postponed after India declined to attend because of tension with Pakistan. Enditem