South Asia summit ends amid chill in Indo-Pak ties
South Asia summit ends amid chill in Indo-Pak ties
Raju Gopalakrishnan, Reuters/Dhaka
India and Pakistan exchanged frosty words as a South Asian summit
ended in the Bangladesh capital on Sunday, casting doubt over
whether the group would be able to overcome differences between
its two biggest members.
"There is clearly a trust deficit between the two countries,"
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters as the
meeting of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) drew to a close.
He said that as far as Pakistan was concerned, the core
dispute with India was over divided Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was quick to respond,
agreeing about the lack of trust between the two countries and
accusing Pakistan of failing to live up to its obligations to end
violence in India by Pakistan-based militants.
"There has been some reduction but unfortunately it is our
feeling that all that needs to be done has not been done," he
told reporters. He said the two sides needed to build up trust.
About 1.5 billion people live in the SAARC member states,
about a third of them in abject poverty.
The forum has initiated few multilateral initiatives in its 20
years, mostly because of tensions between its members.
The remarks of the Indian and Pakistani leaders came a day
after they held bilateral talks that produced no breakthrough in
the slow-moving peace process between the two countries.
Peace talks began after India and Pakistan went close to a
fourth war in 2002, but have progressed only in short bursts.
Aziz said the tensions between India and Pakistan were the
main reason for SAARC's failure to achieve more.
"SAARC is mired in conflict, you cannot deny it," he said.
"The truth is we need to take issues head-on and come up with
solutions, whether it's Pakistan-India or any other countries in
the region.
"We must make progress on Kashmir and then we can move in
parallel on other issues," he added. "We do not subscribe to the
view that let's do everything else and Kashmir will resolve
itself. For sustainable peace, we must address Kashmir."
At its meeting, SAARC decided to include Afghanistan in the
group as a full member and to consider an application by China to
get observer status.
The group also signed an agreement to avoid double taxation,
as well as one on customs duties. It also agreed to set up a
council to arbitrate on trade disputes.
Kashmir, the nub of the problem between India and Pakistan, is
the only Muslim-majority state in Hindu-dominated India and is
claimed by both countries. Two of their three wars since
independence in 1947 have been over Kashmir.
India also accuses Pakistan, an Islamic nation, of aiding
insurgents in Indian Kashmir, although Islamabad denies giving
anything more than moral and political support.
More than 45,000 people have been killed in the Kashmir
insurgency since the rebellion started in 1989.
Ties have improved, in fits and starts, since the two sides
launched new moves to make peace in 2003.
They set aside decades of hostility to provide some aid to
survivors of the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake that killed over
75,000 people in Pakistan and about 1,300 in Indian Kashmir.
But tensions flared again two weeks ago after bombs that
killed 66 people in New Delhi were suspected to be the work of
Pakistan-based militants.
Despite the overhang of India-Pakistan tensions, Bangladesh
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said at SAARC's closing ceremony that
member-states were determined to make the forum work.
"We have ... a broad consensus on the continued importance and
relevance of SAARC," she said. "We also have a remarkable
unanimity of views on steps needed to make regional cooperation
an effective instrument for positive change."