There is a need for increased people-to-people contacts and trade between South Asian countries, said speakers at a roundtable conference on Saturday titled “South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC): The Journey So Far and The Way Ahead”.
They also expressed concern over the hegemony of India-Pakistan-centric discourse that dominates all interactions at the SAARC level.
The roundtable conference was jointly organised by the Pakistan Peace Coalition; the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research; the Pakistan Studies Centre, the University of Karachi and the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi in connection with the People’s SAARC country process.
Peoples’ SAARC, a parallel process of the civil society to the official meeting of SAARC, is holding a series of country process meetings across different parts of the South Asian region including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Trivandrum on the occasion of the SAARC Summit.
The meeting demanded the Pakistani government to end the confusion about granting the most favoured nation status (MFN) to India and complete all the requirements in this regard.
Pakistan Studies Centre Chairman Dr Jaffar Ahmed, Dr Riaz Shaikh of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, senior journalist Ghazi Salahuddin, Ehsanullah Khan of the Workers-Employers Bilateral Council of Pakistan and senior columnist and intellectual Muqtada Mansoor were the main speakers at the roundtable, whereas peace activists, trade union, student leaders and civil society representatives also attended the meeting and spoke on various South Asian regional issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Ghazi Salahuddin said that an “India-centred” mindset exists in Pakistan that has hindered the development of positive relations with India. “We have not learnt lessons from history.”
Speaking on the issue of the MFN status to India, he said there is still confusion in Pakistan on part of the government.
He asked the civil society to come forward and play its role in creating a positive atmosphere in favour of this decision. He also clarified that the MFN status would benefit Pakistan.
Veteran poetess Fahmida Riaz, who recited her poetry on peace, said a trade of war is going on in Pakistan and India that has kept people of both countries away from each other. “There is only one section of Pakistan that benefiting from this trade of war. The money is not being spent on the welfare of people,” she added.
Muqtada Mansoor said that South Asia does not have a common language as a medium of communication so they have to resort to English for interaction. “South Asian states never encourage promotion of cultural ties as a result of which we remain ignorant of the culture, literature and social sides of each other,” he said.
Dr Riaz Sheikh stressed the need to start dialogue for regional peace. “The states do not have the authority to undermine languages,” he said.
On the occasion, the recommendations under a memorandum of the People’s SAARC signed on the occasion of the 17th SAARC Summit were read out by Zeenia Shaukat.
The memorandum, while appreciating some positive developments in the region, expresses serious concern over the actions taken by the states that bear negatively on fundamental human rights, including right to life, right to equality and access to basic services.
It expressed concern over growing internal rifts in the region. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal continue to be mired by internal conflicts with rates much higher than expected for their stage of development. The handling of the ongoing conflict in Pakistan (Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), India (Maoist insurgency in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Orissa) and the post-conflict phase in Sri Lanka and Nepal all have raised serious questions regarding fundamental human rights of the population affected by conflicts.
The Peoples’ SAARC also expressed alarm over the increasing defence budgets, nuclearisation, food insecurity, climate change and environmental concerns, compromised human development, internal conflicts and growing corporatisation in South Asian countries.
In terms of military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, Pakistan spends the highest at 3.2 percent of the GDP; Sri Lanka 2.9 percent; India 2.7 percent; Nepal 1.7 percent; Afghanistan 1.5 percent and Bangladesh one percent. In a region where 260 million people lack access to rudimentary health facilities, 337 million lack safe drinking water, over 400 million people go hungry every day, and the average public health expenditure stands at 1.7 percent of the region’s GDP, an astronomical allocation to defence expenditure that stands around $40bn is highly atrocious and unjust.
The meeting also condemned the bureaucratic hurdle put forth by the Interior Ministry of Pakistan in issuance of visas for a delegation of Indian journalists visiting Pakistan to promote ties between the media personnel of the two countries.
