Leaders of civil societies of South Asian countries on Saturday demanded Visa-free South Asia to ensure democracy, peace and non-communalism in the region.
They demanded strong solidarity within the region and also strengthening of existing food and seed bank mechanism under the framework of SAARC.
They raised the demands while addressing the inaugural session of People’s SAARC Regional Convergence, a South Asian mega event of civil society, held at Staff College Ground in Lolitpur district, adjacent to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.The People’s SAARC organised the convergence just four days before the 18th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), being held in the same city.
The civil society leaders also stressed the need for people to people connectivity among the SAARC countries for development in the region and to remove all types of discrimination including caste and creed.
Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam formally inaugurated the 3-day convergence participated by some 500 civil society activists from eight member states of the SAARC–India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Maldives, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Nepal. Coordinator of the People’s SAARC Sharmila Karki presided.
The civil society members gathered in capital city to push the agenda from civil society perspective to the formal process of SAARC. The three day event bears slogan of ´People´s Movement Uniting South Asia for Deepening Democracy, Social Justice and Peace´.
Prior to beginning, two rallies, with participation of several hundred individuals representing a hundred SAARC organisations marched from Pulchowk and Ekantakuna.
Inaugurating the function, the deputy Prime Minister Bamdev Gautam expressed his solidarity with People’s SAARC agenda raised by various South Asian civil society organisations.
Gautam lamented that South Asia is still suffering from poverty, inequality and disparity even though it is the world’s most populous region. Some agenda endorsed by previous declarations of the People’s SAARC were addressed by the previous SAARC summits. The SAARC summits should be more focussed on regional and multilateral issues rather than remain bilateral, he added.
He urged the People’s SAARC to make itself more effective so that it can raise the people’s agenda to the official SAARC.
Earlier while giving inaugural remarks, Sharmila Karki said that the function is being held to make the voice of South Asian people grow stronger.
She was of the view that SAARC countries are suffering various problems such as human trafficking, poverty, racial discrimination, violence against women, climate change and food crisis, among others. She stressed the need of common efforts to cope with those challenges.
President of Bangladesh Krishak Federation Badrul Alam demanded climate justice from the developed countries for South Asian Region during his address. He also stressed on agri-ecology as a solution to climate change.
Among others, Rij Mohammad Dalili from Afghanistan, NB Giri from Bhutan, Rakhi Sehgal from India, Ibrahim Ismail from the Maldives, Sunita Danuwar from Nepal, Azra Sayeed from Pakistan and B.Skantha Kumar from Sri Lanka spoke about common issues pertaining to the South Asian countries.
As part of the three-day function, various interactions and seminars among representatives of South Asian Civil Society started on Saturday itself. People’s Convergence will issue a joint declaration on Monday, which will be later on submitted to Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Pandey. – UNB
