International
Exclusion of bilateral issues, a serious handicap: Musharraf
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, JAN. 5. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that exclusion of bilateral issues from the SAARC process is ``a serious handicap'' that has crippled the Association.
In an interview to the `Rashtriya Samachar Samiti', national news agency of Nepal, Gen. Musharraf has said that Pakistan was in favour of ``a mechanism'' within SAARC to discuss and resolve ``bilateral issues.'' Gen. Musharraf has been advocating this line for a long time.
His argument is that for any organisation to prosper, cooperation among its constituent units is indispensable and it is in this spirit Pakistan has been pleading for introduction of an acceptable mechanism in SAARC, whereby bilateral issues could be discussed and resolved on the basis of ``justice and fairplay''.
``In our opinion, talking to each other about contentious issues is much better than refusing to discuss them. Pakistan would still advocate that bilateral issues be taken up in SAARC.''
Gen. Musharraf told the news agency that economic opportunities couldn't be tapped in the atmosphere of tension the South Asian region suffered at present. He said each SAARC member should contribute towards the promotion of peace and stability ``through words and deeds''.
``It is difficult to achieve prosperity in an environment lacking in peace and stability. Poverty alleviation would remain a dream unless core issues are addressed to create a congenial atmosphere in the region. The record of other regional organisations shows that their national agendas towards poverty eradication were effectively supplemented through regional cooperation. This has not happened in SAARC.''
He said that no single member should hold the Association hostage to its whims. If there was peace and stability in the region there would be no need to divert precious resources to defence.
The members have evolved common positions on various issues at various international fora like WTO, IMF and the World Bank. Gen. Musharraf expressed confidence that through mutual cooperation SAARC countries can take a united stand in many other fora.
On terrorism he said that it is ``a scourge that needs to be eliminated.'' ``Continuation of disputes, denial of rights, political repression, deprivation and poverty bred terrorism or violence. Unless the root causes of terrorism are eliminated, it would raise its head in various forms. There is no reason why sincere and conscious efforts by individual member states should not eradicate this menace.''
South Asia is ``a victim of all sorts of terrorism and needs focussed attention of the member states.'' The contemporary history of Afghanistan, he said, should be an eye-opener to the world, especially the SAARC region. ``Terrorism is indeed a scourge that needs to be eliminated everywhere, be it individual acts or terrorism unleashed by state apparatus.'' The SAARC members, he said, signed a Convention on Suppression of Terrorism over a decade ago. It would come under discussion at the Summit.
`India should reciprocate'
Pakistan today hoped that Gen. Musharraf's gesture of friendship to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, at the SAARC summit today would evoke a positive response from India.
The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, Aziz Ahmed Khan, told a news conference that Pakistan was doing everything it could to defuse the tension and prevent the situation going out of hand at the border.
On Gen. Musharraf's gesture of walking up to Mr. Vajpayee and shaking hands with him at the Summit, Mr. Khan said: ``Our President made a gesture. Hope there will be a response. Pakistan stood for talks. We are ready for talks. India has to reciprocate. The gesture has to come from India. If they wish to have talks, they will not find it wanting from Pakistan.''
He said Gen. Musharraf's offer of friendship was part of Pakistan's desire to resolve all the outstanding differences with India through talks and urged India to pull back its troops and settle for a dialogue.
On the allegations that Pakistan aided and abetted terrorism, Mr. Khan said Pakistan was a responsible member of the international community and extended its full support to curb terrorism.
``We cannot allow terrorist activities form our soil. Pakistan has condemned the attack on the Indian Parliament and offered to assist in the probe.'' Mr. Khan also welcomed the reported statement of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, that Pakistan has a strong case in Kashmir.``We welcome that stand,'' he said and hoped that the international community would step up its efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue. Pakistan would continue to raise the issue in all forums and provide diplomatic support to the ``Kashmir freedom struggle''.
The spokesperson said Pakistan proposes to have comprehensive talks with Mr. Blair when he arrives on a two-day visit on January 7. Referring to Indian deployment of troops, he said the mobilisation was massive and assumed threatening proportions.
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