Fight against terrorism, key topic at SAARC

Ashok Sharma

NEW DELHI: The fight against terrorism will be a key topic at this week's summit of eight South Asian nations, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, an Indian official said.

After a preparatory meeting of top foreign ministry officials from the region, India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said they would recommend "a very strong statement against terrorism" to the summit, being held today and tomorrow in India.

The issue affects most countries in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, Menon said Sunday. India and Sri Lanka have been battling armed insurgencies for decades, while officials in Afghanistan have repeatedly said Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks in Afghanistan from Pakistani territory, a charge Pakistan denies.

India also accuses Pakistan of training and arming Islamic militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between the nuclear-armed neighbours but claimed by both. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to the rebels it calls freedom fighters.

"We are recommending to the council (of foreign ministers) and the summit a very strong statement, not only of implementation of what we already had agreed, but to see what further action we in the sub-region can take against terrorism," Menon told reporters.

Last week, Menon said Sri Lanka had told host India that it intended to raise this issue at the summit. Sri Lanka has been battling separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels since 1983. Last week the rebels launched their first-ever air strike on an air force base near Colombo's international airport.

Member countries have ratified a SAARC Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, and agreed on an additional protocol in 2004 about action against financing of terrorism.

SAARC - which groups India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives - was set up in 1985 to promote economic cooperation. Progress, however, has been slow because of rivalry between India and Pakistan. Afghanistan is joining as a new member this year.

Improved India-Pakistan ties

Meanwhile Pakistan's foreign minister said on Sunday that a three-year-old peace process has helped Pakistan and India warm up relations, but they still need to resolve their long-standing dispute over Kashmir. Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said the two countries have moved beyond the tensions of 2001 when they had deployed thousands of troops along their border in an "eyeball-to-eyeball" standoff that threatened to blow up into a war.

"Now there is a sea change if you compare the situation to that," he said at a joint news conference with his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing. "We still need to resolve our disputes but the atmosphere is far improved," Kasuri said.

India and Pakistan have a history of hostile relations, mainly because of their dispute over Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between them and claimed in its entirety by both. The neighbouring countries have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.

India put its military on a war footing and deployed thousands of additional troops on its border with Pakistan after a suicide attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 killed 14. India blamed Pakistan's spy agency for the attack.

Islamabad denied the charge and matched India's move by alerting and fortifying its forces along the Indian border. In 2004, Pakistani and Indian leaders began a series of negotiations to help resolve the Kashmir issue and other minor disputes.

Li was in Pakistan, a long-time ally of China, for a two-day visit en route to India for the SAARC summit. China is attending the April 3-4 SAARC summit in the Indian capital New Delhi as an observer.

China's status as an observer "has provided a new platform for China to develop its relations with South Asian countries," Li said, adding that China was looking for ties with SAARC countries on the basis of "equality, mutual trust and win-win cooperation."

The South Asian region is home to one fifth of the world's population and has some of the world's poorest people.

(AP)