KATHMANDU: The second general assembly of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) held in the Nepalese capital this week has declared that the unresolved India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir is a serious obstacle to both peace and grassroots democracy in the region as enormous defence budgets of both countries deprive the poor in these countries of much-needed health and education facilities and food security.
In a declaration adopted at the end of the general assembly, the participants drawn from the Saarc region, including Afghanistan, declared to do everything possible to mobilise its members in favour of peace and justice for the Kashmiri people and to pressure the two governments to resolve the conflict in accordance with their wishes.
The declarations said that peace in the region still eluded because of civil strife in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, growing state repression in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and continuing atrocities in Bhutan. The participants resolved to support each other in the struggle for peace.
The declaration took note of various problems in the region -– the inability of Bhutanese refugees to return to their homes in Bhutan; state repression in India’s Gujarat and other states by religious fundamentalist political groups; and the use of military power by South Asian governments.
The declaration emphasised that poverty and hunger in the region were not natural, but something created and perpetuated by the global forces of plunder and exploitation, working in collaboration with the elitist regimes in these countries.
The SAAPE members pledged to mobilise millions of the poor and their organisations to complete the process of de-legitimisation of the global financial powers.
They also declared to work for the achieving the objective of food sovereignty and food security for the people of the region.
Referring to the continuing patriarchal customs and practices in the region, the participants also declared that SAAPE would ensure that women had equal participation as members of decision-making bodies.
Observing that fundamentalist religious forces, mingled with politics, had caused deprivation and poverty, the participants expressed concern over their rise in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The declaration said that all activities undertaken by SAAPE would be secular in perspective.
