SAARC Parliamentarians endorse South Asian Parliament initiative

Shimla, Jun 4 (UNI) Aiming to bring all SAARC countries onboard of a South Asian Parliament, the two day conclave of Parliamentarians decided to set up South Asia Parliamentary Commission headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to put in place a deliberative and consultative mechanism within the SAARC agenda.

The proposed commission would have four members from each member country nominated by the heads of political parties and two experts who would meet at periodical intervals.

The Shimla Declaration, adopted at the meet spelled out the roadmap for better regional cooperation among the SAARC countries, called for solution of all bilateral issues through dialogue in an atmosphere free of violence and terrorism and without any third party intervention in internal problems of any country in the sub-continent.

The eight-page declaration, which coincided with 35th anniversary of Shimla agreement, welcomed the current peace process between India and Pakistan aimed at exploration of all options for a final settlement of Jammu and Kashmir problem.

The declaration urged India and Pakistan to undertake nuclear and conventional military confidence building measures (CBMs) to put in place a comprehensive regime of CBMs and also exhorted the other SAARC countries to evolve sustainable dialogue mechanism for solving the inter and intra state conflicts.

The declaration unequivocally condemned the terrorist attacks against innocent people 'wherever they occur, whoever sponsors and on whatever pretext' and rejected violence as a means by parties to the conflict.

It called upon the people and the governments to join hands against the scourge of terrorism and violence on any pretext while addressing the genuine aspirations of the people and the causes giving birth to dissatisfaction of masses.

Concerned about instability in Afghanistan and ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, the meet called upon all states of the region to work for peace in Afghanistan and expected the parties to conflict in Sri Lanka to restore the ceasefire and revive a meaningful dialogue with all stakeholders to resolve the issues.

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