KARACHI, Feb 20: The European Union is failing to adopt an even-strategy on enforcement of human rights and promotion of democratic values in South Asia, speakers observe this at a workshop on Thursday.

They further said that besides primarily looking for and serving its trade relations with the South Asian countries, the EU should also play an active role in conflict prevention in the region.

Some of the speakers were of the view that the EU was not very much assertive against India which has been failing to comply with international laws and the UN resolutions pressing for maintenance of regional peace and security and harmonious development of dialogue between the countries of the region.

The workshop on “the EU’s relations with South Asia: the global and regional imperatives”, was organized by the Area Study Centre for Europe (ASCE), University of Karachi, under the EU-sponsored Jean Monnet Project.

Former ambassador Mahdi Masud, giving his presentation on “the Kashmir issue: the EU’s stand”, said Kashmir issue had been a victim of international indifference due to big-power rivalries and real-politik.

“The initial West European support to the determination of Kashmir’s future in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, subsequently became hostage to the West’s strategic considerations”, he said, adding, things changed largely when the Europe and western countries desired to see India as a dominant power in the region and play a role in containing China.

He lamented that the EU, among others, was also failing to exercise necessary leverage over India to work out a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute on the basis of international legality and the will of the people of Kashmir.

The repeated offers by the EU of using its good offices for resolving the matter of dispute between India and Pakistan have been uniformly ignored by India, he noted.

Answering a question, Mr Masud said if the people of the valley are struggling for their right of self-determination, without targeting the innocent people, including women and children, they should not be termed terrorists.

Dr Naveed Ahmad Tahir, the director of Area Study Centre, who is also a Jean Monnet Professor, in her address of welcome, said that the European Commission’s New Asia strategy called for a complete reorientation of the EU attitude towards Asia, based on the need to respond to the “dramatically changing role of Asia in the world balance of economic power”.

In recent years, she added, the EU has begun linking its trade and assistance to the observance of the international norms of human rights, democracy and good governance and includes a clause for observance of the norms in any new cooperation agreement.

Dr Shaista Tabassum, assistant professor of the International Relations department, said the EU had set a system for the promotion of democracy and protection of human rights. While appreciating the community for its balanced practices within itself, she blamed it for not striking a balance in the case of South Asian countries.

She said that EU parliament seemed to be neglecting serious human rights violations under democratic governments as well.

The silence observed by the EU on massive human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir by the Indian forces or killing of innocent citizens in Gujrat compels one to think about the partiality of the union, she added, stressing the need for condemning all kinds of extremist elements whether those were in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan.

Ms Hina Khan, a teacher of the KU’s general history department, discussed the implication of the expansion of the EU and inclusion of Central and East-European countries, and said that the big-bang enlargement of EU had been a source of great interest for the people and observers in South Asia.

The enlargement carried a mixture of fears and hopes for the region, she added, mentioning that the South Asia was also concerned about the economic resources available for the developing world after the entry of poorer economies of the Central and Eastern Europe, which would themselves be needing assistance.

Ms Rubab Hasan of the ASCE, speaking on “international war on terror”, recalled the EU’s supportive stand on war against terrorism by America in Afghanistan and mentioned that the union was of the view that the war should not be prolonged or spread further.

Today, the same EU has turned against America, which has been threatening of opening a war on Iraq, she added, claiming that the relationship between America and EU has been affected, while EU and NATO have also developed differences as far as Iraq crisis was concerned.

Mr S M Taha of the general history department, acting as discussant of the workshop, said massive rallies around the globe would surely make the US change its stand against Iraq.

He praised the EU for its social and economic services, but also criticized it for observing double standards in some issues of concern, involving Muslim countries.

Columnist, Mr. M H Askari, who presided over the workshop, noted that the EU Council, among other developments, had been able to evolve a relevance to India-Pakistan perspectives, as well.

He maintained that the practice of extending technical and financial support to the countries in South Asia on the basis of project to project and not on the country basis was good as far as maintenance of development in the region was concerned.

He referred to the large number of immigrants from South Asian countries in the EU states and said they should not suffer due to any flaw in the EU policies.

The workshop was attended by a good number of students and teachers of the centre and other scholars.