& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Anti-Delhi moves to make Saarc limping

Says Indian foreign secretary

Our Correspondent, New Delhi
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has said Saarc would continue to lack substance and energy if the thrust of initiatives of some of the member countries was seen to be patently hostile to India or motivated by a desire to contain India in someway.
"Some members actively seek association with countries outside the region or with regional or international organisations in a barely
disguised effort to counter-balance India within the association or to project Saarc as some kind of a regional dispute settlement mechanism," hesaid.
"We need to create a positive and constructive environment by avoiding hostile propaganda and intemperate statements. India cannot and will not ignore such conduct and will take whatever steps are necessary to
SEE PAGE 11 COL 1 FROM PAGE 1
invest our capital in re-building and upgrading cross-border infrastructure with each of them (neighbours)."
"We do expect that they (neighbours) demonstrate sensitivity to our vital concerns. These vital concerns relate to allowing the use of their territories for cross-border terrorism and hostile activity against India, for example, by insurgent and secessionist groups," Saran said.
He said India would deal with whichever government is in power in the neighbouring countries, but that it would prefer democratic and secular governments.
India, Saran added, would welcome more democracy in its neighbourhood. "But that too is something we may encourage and promote and it is not something that we can impose upon others."
At least some states in South Asia perceive security threats as arising from within the region, Saran said, adding that it is "regrettable that the countries of South Asia, while occupying the same geographical space, do not have a shared security perception and, hence, a common security doctrine."
"This is different from the European Union orAsean," Saran added.
The Indian secretary said New Delhi does not want some Saarc members to perceive the group "as a vehicle primarily to countervail India or to seek to limit its room for manoeuv-
ring."
"The challenge [for Indian diplomacy] lies in convincing our neighbours that India is an opportunity not a threat, that far from being besieged by India, they have a vast, productive hinterland that would give their economies far greater opportunities for growth than if they were to rely on their domestic markets alone."
He said it was India's expectation that "the dynamics of promoting crossborder economic linkages among South Asian countries would help them overcome mutual distrust and suspicion, which prevents us from evolving a shared security perception."
But "this remains our hope today, even though the record of Saarc in this respect has hardly been inspiring," he said.
Saran said Saarc in its 20 years of existence "has shied away from undertaking even a single collaborative project and there is a deep resistance to doing anything that could be collaborative."
Unless Saarc countries promote cross-border economic linkages and prevent transit routes among membercountries from falling "prey to narrow political calculations," the foreign secretary concluded, Safta would "remain a limping shadow of its true potential."
Sec full text on page 4