ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Monday called for modification in the charter of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (Saarc) to make it more effective in resolving regional disputes.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day international seminar on ‘Major powers and South Asia’ organized by the Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad.
“South Asia is grouped together under Saarc but this forum is very ineffective and has not delivered on any front — social, economic or cultural,” the president said, pointing to the fact that no Saarc summit had taken place in the last two years, while SAF games had not been held either.
“There is a need to amend the Saarc charter, it should be the forum to resolve regional and bilateral conflicts,” Gen Musharraf said.
Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shanker Menon and US Ambassador Nancy Powell were also among the audience comprising foreign diplomats and other dignitaries.
“The conflict between India and Pakistan is affecting the economic development of other countries of the region,” the president said.
“If we are sincere about development and prosperity of the region then we should resolve all regional and bilateral disputes through the Saarc forum. From this a new confidence will emerge in the region,” he added.
In an obvious reference to India, he said the main impediment to the regional cooperation was the “geographically very disproportionately large size” of one member country.
“In such an environment bilateralism becomes dysfunctional and it negates and undermines the principle of sovereignty and equality,” he asserted. “Bilateralism may be good between equals but it suffers among unequals,” he added.
Noting that the region is marred by conflicts and distrust, the president maintained that the Indo-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir and the continued fighting across the LoC was the worst of these disputes.
“It is really the Indo-Pakistan dispute that adversely impacts on the collective relationships and collective progress of South Asian region,” he observed.
The president, who is also the patron-in-chief of the institute, made an impassioned appeal for peace, saying Pakistan and India “owed this to their poverty-stricken and ill-educated people.”
He held out the assurance that Pakistan would do its utmost to follow the track of peace through dialogue for resolving all disputes, including Kashmir.
“Pakistan desires peace for its own benefit, for the benefit of India, the region and the world,” he underlined.
However, President Musharraf said before the resolution of the dispute it was essential to maintain peace through conventional balance of power in South Asia.
“Conflict is unthinkable, even in the conventional sense, it would be disastrous for the region and the two countries,” he cautioned.
Giving an overview of the recent global developments and shifting of strategic focus, President Musharraf said after 9/11 and after Pakistan and India became nuclear powers the focus had shifted to the East.
The president talked at length about the new global strategic adjustments, saying there was a need to evaluate their impact. He referred to the emerging economic relationships between India and China and the growing Indo-US strategic ties.
He maintained that these relationships would not affect in any way Pakistan’s long-standing relations with China or with the US. The president said after the Cold War and 9/11, the US had developed special interest in Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics.
The president also mentioned thaw in Pakistan-Russia relations and referred to other world powers such as Japan and the European Union that he held had an interest in South Asian markets and in the Gulf oil.
Earlier, President of the Institute of Regional Studies Maj-Gen Jamshed Ayaz Khan (retired) presented address of welcome. Former foreign secretary Inamul Haq delivered the keynote address.
Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, senior bureaucrats, military officials and research scholars also attended the inaugural session.
Among the experts who presented papers on Monday were Stephen Cohen, Prof. Uma Singh, Dr Peter Lavoy, Dr Rodney Jones, Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi and Lt-Gen Kamal Matinuddin (retired).