PESHAWAR, Dec 15: Speakers at a conference on international law, peace and security, here on Monday stressed that regional cooperation among developing countries was imperative for political and economic stability in the world.
The two-day conference was jointly organized by the Human Rights Studies Centre, Faculty of Law, and the British Council at the Peshawar University.
The speakers, who included renowned scholars, human rights activists and political leaders, criticized the hegemonic policies of the developed countries, especially the United States.
NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, who inaugurated the conference, said new issues had emerged after the 9\11 incident as the international community was faced with threats to global peace and security and escalation in international terrorism. “There is an urgent need for debate and advancing positive and constructive mechanism,” he said.
Mr Afrasiab Khattak, chairperson of the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy, in his lecture on “New Order and World Peace: A Developing World Perspective,” said there was a need for adopting new strategies in the post-9\11 scenario to establish global peace and security.
“Extremism wouldn’t help us; suicide bombings are not going to change anything. We need to adopt a new approach. The best thing is to communicate with the civil society in the West,” Mr Khattak observed.
Mr Khattak said Pakistan was facing a very difficult situation after the 9\11 incident and the first thing that should have been done was to change policies.
“After the 9\11 incident, we saw the rise of the new world order in a dramatic way which provided an opportunity to the United States to emerge in a ruthless manner. Now the developing world is facing new pressures and it is facing erosion. The Muslim countries should change their sentimental approach in the international relations,” Mr Khattak said.
In the developing countries people were politically not empowered but the civil society could play its effective role as in a civilized country society controlled the state but unfortunately in Pakistan it was not so. “Societies gripped by self pity and extremism have not achieved anything.
The civil societies of the East and the West should communicate to bring peace and ensure security in the world,” he said.
Speaking about Pakistan’s position, he said the structure of our government was a “Cold War structure” where there was a big army and a large bureaucracy, which was bound to collapse.
The collaboration among the developing countries was very important for the security and peace in the changing international environment but “dictators will always collaborate with the West,” Mr Khattak said.
Members of Faculty of Law, University of Peshawar, University of Ulster, Ireland, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, ICRC and NGOs participated in the conference.