President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon SAARC parliaments to play a role for forging better bilateral relations and addressing interstate issues.
Opening the three-day, 6th Conference of Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians on Sunday, the president said the region should adopt a collective approach to face common challenges and explore opportunities for the benefit of the people. He said SAARC parliaments should plan and lead efforts for solving complex issues.
“By protecting political liberties, human freedoms and the rule of law, the parliaments can promote regional peace and security,” Zardari said.
He said Pakistan was committed to the ch rter of SAARC and believed that durable p ace in the region was in the interest of all.
President Zardari urged regional countries to join hands to fight the menace of extremism and terrorism. He said no country had suffered more from the menace than Pakistan. Zardari said, “We have lost more than 40,000 innocent lives in addition to Rs 80 billion in economic terms.”
He said there was a need to address illegal drug trafficking which was serving as the financing source for militancy. Emphasising upon greater people to people contacts between the regional countries, the president said dialogue among SAARC parliamentarians would have long lasting and positive impact on the situation in the region and would help achieve the ideals of peace and stability. He pointed out that the SAARC had a population of 1.6 billion and the SAARC parliaments should come up with a strategy to ensure food security for the region. Referring to democratic transition in South Asia, the president said democracy was the prerequisite for economic development and political stability.
“Strong parliaments play a crucial role in ushering in reforms and ensuring efficiency and transparency of the governing structures.” Zardari said the government in Pakistan had taken bold decisions to empower the parliament, adding that a democratically elected government was nearing the completion of its term and would soon achieve a peaceful democratic transition. The president added cultural affinity and shared history were great assets and “we must exploit these assets for further developing the bonds of friendships”. In her welcome address, chairperson of the conference and National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza highlighted the themes of the Sixth Conference of the association. She said the conference would deliberate upon the themes of participatory democracy and food security.
Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said being representatives of the people, parliamentarians should play proactive role to meet the expectations of the masses. She said increased interaction amongst the member countries would help them learn from each other’s experiences and find solutions to daunting challenges.
In her remarks, Bangladesh Speaker Abdul Wahid said democracy was pre-requisite for peace and development in the region and hoped that the current session of the association would go a long way in further strengthening democracy in the region. The Bhutanese speaker said the three-day deliberations would provide an excellent opportunity to member countries to share their success stories and knowledge about parliamentary democracy.
The Sri Lankan deputy speaker emphasised the need for empowerment of youth and women to achieve the true dividends of democracy. Earlier, the speakers of the SAARC countries held a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari and discussed ways and means to further enhance people-to-people contacts among the regional countries.
