Sunday, Jan 12, 2003
Sunday, Jan 12, 2003 |
| National | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | National
By Amit Baruah
Delivering the 10th Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial lecture here, he said India held the key to fostering cooperative and joint action in South Asia. Unlike many others, he was optimistic about the future of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and its achievements in the last 17 years. ``If India were to take the lead, since India accounts for about 75 per cent of the land area, population, resources and skills of the region, SAARC could become a regional economic entity of some weight. It is clear that SAARC cannot succeed without India but the other States must help India to participate wholeheartedly,'' the Senior Advisor to the Sri Lankan President on Foreign Affairs said. He produced an impressive body of evidence to show that the SAARC summits had provided avenues for informal, bilateral discussions on contentious issues between the "seven sisters.''``In terms of finding a solution to one of the most complex problems of all time, one cannot reasonably expect a regional organisation to achieve in 17 years what the United Nations has failed to achieve in 57; to think otherwise is to condemn SAARC for failing to accomplish a recognised impossibility,'' he said. Mr. Kadirgamar was unsparing in his criticism of Indian and Pakistani officials in creating problems in SAARC and pointed to the issues that arose in the Foreign Secretary-level meeting in Nuwara Eliya in March 1999. ``I have often felt that the officials of India and Pakistan sometimes behave as though they are the true keepers of the dogma; that it is their high national duty to restrain their leaders from straying into good sense and reasonableness. I was astonished sometimes at the fanatical devotion to political religiosity displayed by some of these delegations.'' Mr. Gujral, who presided over the lecture, pointed to the speech delivered by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, on Friday, in which he said the "Gujral doctrine'' was part of the Government policy and that India was ready for a free trade arrangement in South Asia tomorrow. He said Mr. Sinha's speech was a very big step forward, but hoped it was not "rhetorical.'' He also suggested that a permanent venue be fixed to hold SAARC summits — say Kathmandu or Thimpu — to avoid the kind of problems that had now cropped up.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
