Need for legislative reforms: Gujral

By V. S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, FEB. 2. The former Prime Minister, Mr. I. K. Gujral, today came out strongly against the proposal to appoint a committee to review the Constitution.

At a press conference, Mr. Gujral who is here to attend the Neelan Tiruchelvam Commemoration Programme, said those ``who experimented with the Presidential system want to go back to the Parliamentary system.''

The present requirements, he said, were to make the Directive Principles of State Policy justiciable and to bring in electoral reforms. Elaborating on electoral reforms, which ``did not require'' a review of the Constitution, Mr. Gujral said he was in favour of state-financing of political parties, laws to make political parties internally-democratic and making party accounts transparent and public.

On the relations between India and Pakistan, Mr. Gujral said he saw a continuity in the Kargil aggression, the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft and the continuation of terrorism.

``The Kargil process has not ended, the locus has shifted,'' he said adding ``Pakistan must understand that execution and abetment of terrorism is not in their interest and not in the interest of any country. The sooner they realise this the better it is for all South Asian countries to combat terrorism.''

Mr. Gujral, who along with several other South Asian intellectuals released a public appeal calling for a revival of the Lahore Declaration, said it was in the national interest that the ``situation must not deteriorate''.

Indo-Lanka ties on upswing

The former Prime Minister, who had called on the Sri Lankan President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and the Opposition Leader, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, said the relationship with Sri Lanka was ``on an upswing'' and that the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement was ``good for all of us''.

On the conflict-resolution process, Mr. Gujral described as ``remarkable'' the vision of ushering in greater devolution of powers to the regions and said the effort would be ``watched'' as it was ``an experiment'' on what held for ``federalism''.

Asked to comment on third-party initiatives for resolving disputes, he maintained that those were the ``internal affairs'' of Sri Lanka.

``SAARC should not be allowed to die'':

Mr. Gujral, who began the move towards regional free trade during the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit in Male in 1997, said the postponement of the SAARC meet was not in the interests of the region and that the South Asian grouping ``should not be allowed to fall''.

The last SAARC Summit was held here in 1998. The 1999 Summit, to be held in Kathmandu was deferred after the military coup in Pakistan.

The non-official conference held in Kathmandu in December had said that the Summit ``may be held at an early date'', Mr. Gujral pointed out, adding ``the earlier it is held, the better for all of us'' and that an ``indefinite postponement is harmful for all of us.''

Mr. Gujral is scheduled to return home tomorrow.

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