BHURBAN, May 27: Six South Asian countries, including Pakistan and India, have unanimously pledged to enhance cooperation in social development to optimise the effectiveness of their policies.

A resolution was passed on Saturday on the concluding session of a two-day Forum of Ministers of Social Development from Asia organised by the National Reconstruction Bureau in collaboration with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) here.

Other participating countries included Bangladesh, Sri Lanka , Nepal and the Maldives. The meeting was the first meeting of the recently forum formed by Unesco. It is stated be a non-decision making body as it only gives recommendations to the governments concerned.

The forum had decided to adopt the theme of public accountability as the principal focus for the forum during its first year. Pakistan is the chairman of the current forum while India will chair its next session.

It decided reaffirm political will and determination in the member countries to promote development policies which take into account all human development dimensions and to fight against poverty.

Speaking at the first session of the final day of the forum, National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee Chairman Malik Allah Yar Khan, MNA, said that PAC had formed four sub-committees to deal with old cases because of the backlog of old cases of irregularities.

The Auditor-General of Pakistan urged the PAC chairman to concentrate on fresh cases of corruption instead of opening up cases that were decades old.

He stressed the need for empowering the PAC to take suo motu notice of malpractices affecting the public.

The NRB Chairman Daniyal Aziz defended the local government system and said there was nothing wrong with the system, adding that its implementation was problematic.

He said the PAC had sent audit reports of district governments to the provinces three years ago but they had not yet been sent to the district accounts committees so that a timely action could be taken up against people responsible for irregularities.

He claimed that among the member countries, Pakistan had the distinction of having gotten rid of 150-year-old British colonial laws.

He said the process of devolution of power had begun but it would take time to replace the centuries old system in letter and spirit.

“It is my personal experience that people have started talking about their rights even in backward areas, which was unthinkable only six years ago,” he said.

Unesco’s assistant director Pierre Sane, PAC Punjab Chairman Asif Saeed Minais, PAC Chairman Sindh Jam Madad Ali, Balochistan Minister of Local Government Maulana Hussain Ahmed Sharodi, India’s Planning Commission Member Dr Syeda Saiyidain Hameed were among the participants.