Rights group wants visa-free South Asia
Sunday, 18 April 2010
FE Report
Civil society members Saturday demanded a visa-free South Asia for fostering greater regional integration on economic development, peace, harmony and well-being of the common people.
They criticised officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) as it has failed to respond to the common aspirations of the South Asian people.
They made this remark at a press conference organised by Bangladesh National Committee on People's SAARC, a coalition of civil society right groups, while announcing a three-day programmes for upcoming 16th SAARC Summit at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium.
The 16th SAARC Summit is going to be held in Bhutan on 28 and 29 April marking 25 years of SAARC. On this occasion the coalition outlined its three-day program that includes events to raise civil society voices.
Dr. Mahbub E Rashid, convener of Bangladesh National Committee on People's SAARC, criticised SAARC for not being able to make any progress in regional integration in the true sense, compared to South East Asian nations.
Reading out a written statement, M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury mentioned that the rulers of this region must head towards a society of human liberty rather then having a society of security; this is the only way to get rid of fundamentalism and terrorism in this region.
He said, "Around 500 million South Asian live under $1.0 income and 88 million people suffer from hunger."
Speakers criticised Bhutan government for creating refugee problem; they also criticised Bhutanese monarchy for limiting democracy and civil society development.
They mentioned that South Asia will face the worst climate impact and without regional integration there is no way to tackle problems like drinking water, irrigation water and migrants problems.
The press conference was chaired and moderated respectively by the committee convener Dr. Rashid E Mahbub and Rokeya Kabir.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, among others, spoke about the prospect of forming People Union of South Asia, especially in respect of eradicating poverty by using common natural resources.
Civil society members Saturday demanded a visa-free South Asia for fostering greater regional integration on economic development, peace, harmony and well-being of the common people.
They criticised officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) as it has failed to respond to the common aspirations of the South Asian people.
They made this remark at a press conference organised by Bangladesh National Committee on People's SAARC, a coalition of civil society right groups, while announcing a three-day programmes for upcoming 16th SAARC Summit at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium.
The 16th SAARC Summit is going to be held in Bhutan on 28 and 29 April marking 25 years of SAARC. On this occasion the coalition outlined its three-day program that includes events to raise civil society voices.
Dr. Mahbub E Rashid, convener of Bangladesh National Committee on People's SAARC, criticised SAARC for not being able to make any progress in regional integration in the true sense, compared to South East Asian nations.
Reading out a written statement, M Rezaul Karim Chowdhury mentioned that the rulers of this region must head towards a society of human liberty rather then having a society of security; this is the only way to get rid of fundamentalism and terrorism in this region.
He said, "Around 500 million South Asian live under $1.0 income and 88 million people suffer from hunger."
Speakers criticised Bhutan government for creating refugee problem; they also criticised Bhutanese monarchy for limiting democracy and civil society development.
They mentioned that South Asia will face the worst climate impact and without regional integration there is no way to tackle problems like drinking water, irrigation water and migrants problems.
The press conference was chaired and moderated respectively by the committee convener Dr. Rashid E Mahbub and Rokeya Kabir.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, among others, spoke about the prospect of forming People Union of South Asia, especially in respect of eradicating poverty by using common natural resources.