LAHORE, July 8: India should ease visa restrictions for the commoner instead of allowing a few privileged sections like cricketers and pop singers, a participant said at the Young Global Leaders’ conference on Indo-Pak Cooperation 2011 based on a theme, Climate change and disaster risk reduction, at the Lahore University of Management Sciences on Friday.

World Economic Forum, Asia chapter, head Sushant Palakurthi Rao agreed and said that the Pakistanis should lobby their leaders urging them to negotiate with their Indian counterparts to make available visas for a wider section of society.

Beena Sarwar said the campaign ‘Milne Do’ aimed at this particular issue and admitted that the issue of visa to a cross section of society to visit India was a big problem.

Earlier, Sushant Rao stressed the need for unified efforts from all stakeholders to identify issues affecting the region and consolidated efforts to bring improvement.

Delivering his keynote address, LUMS Vice-Chancellor Dr Adil Najam stressed the need to identify problems in the Asian region and find their solutions. He said people in the region were living through the climate change and there was a need to adapt to these changes and take measures to ensure that living conditions did not worsen because of natural disasters.

“If we adapt ourselves to deal with climatic change, natural disasters will cause less damage,” he added.

Dr Najam spoke on the importance of managing water resources efficiently to prevent food stress, energy stress and disease stress. He also shared a study about the impact of human security on climate and showed how natural disasters had a greater effect on people as compared to war, especially in this region. He called for sustainable development and conservation.

Centre for Social Markets and YGL India’s founder Malini Mehra said that all concerned should work for climate change issues to secure a better future for the posterity. Former National Disaster Management, India, member Prof N Vinod Chandra Menon, through a video conference from Delhi, said that the youth in Pakistan, particularly in rural areas, should be engaged in country’s progress and transformation process. He said India had introduced a Miss Call Centre, wherein any subscriber could give miss call and the government offices would be required to call back and listen to the subscriber’s problems.

He said disaster not only reflected danger but also an opportunity to build new houses, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure.

North East Council member PP Shrivastav from Delhi said timely warning of impending disaster could help save lives and property. In India, he said, a Flood Early Warning System (FLEWS) was launched in 2009 that helped reduce the death toll and damage to the agriculture land.

In 2007, he said, the 199.1mm rain claimed 134 lives and affected 600,000 hectares, while after the launch of FLEWS, some 2,067.4mm rain in 2009 claimed 12 lives and damaged 100,000 hectares.

Brig (retired) Shaukat Qadir, Pakistani expert on resource management, highlighted the need to revisit Indus Water Treaty.

Disaster Risk Management Strategy, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, Bangkok, head Aslam Perwaiz said Thailand and Cambodia fought, like Pakistan and India, over a tiny temple for years but they adopted a rational approach when it come to water sharing.

Friends of the Earth Middle East’s Yana Walid Abu-Talib stressed the need to empower local communities to recognise urgency to solve common problems.

Bilal Lakhani, chief executive officer of a media group, said the media was biased. Referring to two media groups in Pakistan and India, which have collaborated to campaign for peace, he said both newspapers were actually bashing India and Pakistan.

Observer Research Foundation, India, senior fellow Lydia Powell and Climate and Development Knowledge Network, Asia, director Ali Tauqeer Sheikh also spoke.