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Plan to form South Asian body on minority rights

SAHR urges India, Pakistan to resolve tension

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Leaders of the South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) have decided to form a high-powered, non-governmental citizens' commission on rights of the minorities in South Asia.
The commission will investigate all aspects of religious and cultural minorities in the region, they said at a press conference at Sheraton Hotel yesterday afternoon.
They called upon the governments of India and Pakistan to admit to their failures to resolve differences now standing in the way of regional affairs as a whole.
They also urged the two countries to lift restrictions on bilateral trade, restore full diplomatic relations and hold regular talks to ease tension and bring peace to the region.
"Agree upon and implement policies which promote religious tolerance and develop mutual stakes in promoting and sustaining a democratic institution," said Co-Chairperson Asma Jahangir quoting a paper on India-Pakistan peace.
The paper underscored immediate steps to revitalise the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) so that it can play its due role in ending regional distance and to implement SAARC agreements and protocols.
The SAHR will organise activities at national level in South Asian countries to cement social and cultural bonds among people and strengthen solidarity for regional peace and prosperity, said
Asma Jahangir.
In another statement on the fallout of the Iraq war on South Asia, the SAHR leaders opposed the war as a means of resolving international disputes. It also blamed the UK and the US for violating Article 2 of the UN Charter.
They protested the use of missiles and cluster bombs in the name of a regime change, leading to death and destruction in Iraq. "Consequences of the war are echoing the rest of the Middle East as a talk of pre-emptive war becomes a daily diet in Washington," the paper added.
The South Asian concern is that such unilateral aggression may become a precedent to a pre-emptive attack amid hostility in the
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region. So, the governments and people should unite to fight aggression, the SAHR leaders said.
Former Indian Prime Minister IK Gujral urged all governments not to blame their neighbours for spread of terrorism. Terrorism is a common problem and all should unite to root it
out, he felt.
The SAARC would survive and advance, he hoped. Gujral strongly requested the Indian prime minister to shore up relations with neighbours for the interest of SAARC.
The Iraq war is a threat to smaller countries and South Asian countries must jointly protect their sovereignty, he said.
Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, noted journalist ABM Musa, Editor of The Daily Independent Mahbub Alam, Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, Editor of The Bangladesh Observer Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury and Managing Director of UNB Enayetullah Khan, among others, attended the press conference.
Nirmala Despande from Delhi, Sathivale Balakrishnam and Sithie Tirucheluam from Colombo, Dr Devendra Raj Panday and Keshab B Mathema from Nepal, IA Rahman from Pakistan, and Subrata Chowdhury and Hamida Hossain from Bangladesh were also present.