Shared concerns

The Colombo Declaration makes a united call by SAARC member-countries to combat terrorism in all its forms.

in Colombo

THE issue of terrorism, as expected, dominated the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Colombo in the first week of August. Since the New Delhi SAARC summit last year, terrorist-related violence has increased in the subcontinent. In Sri Lanka, intense fighting was going on less than 300 km away from the capital Colombo as government forces battled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been branded a terrorist organisation by most governments and international organisations.

Colombo was swathed in a security blanket for the duration of the meet. Even accredited media persons who had come to cover the summit found their freedom of movement drastically restricted. India had stationed two warships along with Sea King helicopters off Colombos coast. Although the Sri Lankan government claims to be on the verge of a decisive victory over the Tamil Tigers, terrorist incidents in and around the capital have increased. The Sri Lankan government had put 19,000 troops and police personnel on duty in Colombo, declaring large areas out of bounds for common people. Sri Lankan media reported that thousands of citizens, mostly Tamils, were taken into custody before the summit as a pre-emptive measure.

July saw many terrorist incidents in South Asia, most of them in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in particular had increased tensions in the region. The Indian and Afghan governments were quick to implicate Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for the act. The United States intelligence agencies have supported this claim.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher of the U.S. joined the chorus in Colombo implicating Pakistans security services in the terrorist attacks that have escalated in the region. Earlier, U.S. President George W. Bush had warned the visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of retaliation if Pakistans intelligence agencies continued to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations (NATO) efforts in Afghanistan. The Taliban has been resurgent in the country since last year.

The military setbacks NATO has suffered are significant. Though the Taliban does operate from sanctuaries inside Pakistans lawless tribal areas, some observers feel that Pakistans security agencies are being made scapegoats for the Wests military reverses in Afghanistan.

The ISI and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) know each other very well and continue to cooperate closely. But sometimes the national interests of two countries do not converge. Afghanistan is a classic illustration. In that country, Pakistan sees its influence dwindling while countries such as India and Iran are increasing theirs. Pakistan is also keen to protect its Pashtun flank. Any perception that Islamabad is leaving the Pashtuns, mostly sympathetic to the Taliban, at the mercy of the U.S. could have dire consequences for Pakistans unity. Already, leading Pakistani politicians have begun to say that the North West Frontier Province, for all practical purposes, has seceded from the country.

It was no wonder, given the circumstances, that Gilani was on the defensive when he arrived in Colombo. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as well as the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, began their speeches by emphasising the scourge of terrorism in the region and the need for the South Asian regional grouping to confront the problem unitedly. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was a happy man as much of the summits focus was on combating terrorism in all its forms.

The Sri Lankan government launched an all-out war against the LTTE in 2006. Since then, there has been considerable erosion of civil rights, including arbitrary arrests. Military death squads have also resurfaced.

Manmohan Singh, in his speech, said that terrorism was the single biggest threat to the regions stability. He went on to cite the recent instances of terrorists who know no borders hitting the Indian embassy in Kabul and triggering serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Karzai put diplomatic niceties aside in his speech and squarely blamed Islamabad for the spurt of terrorist activities in Afghanistan. He said that terrorism was getting institutionalised nurturing and support in Pakistan.

Karzai who has been having strained relations with Islamabad for the past couple of years, said that terrorism and its sanctuaries had established a deeper grip on Pakistan. The Pakistani Prime Minister joined other leaders in condemning the Kabul bombing. He remarked that terrorism had shattered the entire value system of people and interfered with socio-economic development.

Karzai pointed out that Pakistan too was suffering from the menace of terrorism and expressed hope that SAARC countries would strengthen regional cooperation to combat terrorism together. Immediately after the summit, Karzai paid an official visit to India. During the visit, the Indian government announced that it was enhancing aid to Afghanistan by another $450 million in addition to the allocated $750 million. The two countries have also indicated that they would further deepen their security cooperation.

The 15th SAARC summit approved the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). The treaty envisages closer cooperation between the security forces of member-countries to arrest and hand over those engaged in criminal and terrorist activities. The treatys objective is to strengthen the two SAARC conventions on terrorism and drug trafficking.

The Colombo Declaration was a united call to combat terrorism in all its forms. The leaders expressed deep concern over the serious threat posed by terrorism to peace, security and stability in the region. The declaration also called for freezing of funds that could be used for terrorist activities, regular meetings between security chiefs, the exchange of intelligence and the training of personnel dealing with terrorism and drug trafficking.

Members of SAARC had signed a Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism way back in 1987. Article 8 of this convention explicitly states that contracting states shall cooperate among themselves, to the extent provided by their national laws, through consultations between appropriate agencies, exchange of information, intelligence and expertise and such other cooperative measures as may be appropriate, with a view to preventing terrorist activities through precautionary measures. But no concrete follow-up measures were taken. The Colombo Declaration has the potential to add some teeth to the convention.

Indias Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told the media before the summit formally opened that it was necessary first to establish an atmosphere free of violence. Only then, he averred, could the regional grouping implement its political and economic agenda. He said that India expected fellow SAARC countries to support the Comprehensive Draft Convention on International Terrorism that India had submitted to the United Nations General Assembly. Shivshankar Menon said that terrorism had figured prominently at the meeting between the Indian External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Shivshankar Menon said that the recent events, especially the Kabul bombing, had adversely impacted the peace process between the two countries.

Gilani on his part emphasised that no clinching evidence had been provided either by New Delhi or by Washington to back up their assertions about the ISIs complicity in the recent spate of terrorist attacks. Shivshankar Menon said that though the evidence available pointed at a particular direction, it was still a jigsaw puzzle. Gilani reminded the media that his government had condemned the Kabul incident in the strongest terms. He said that there were serious terrorist attacks in Pakistan after that incident. Against this background, the Indian statement is not only surprising but shocking too. The Pakistani Prime Minister was referring to the statement by Indias National Security Adviser, M.K. Narayanan, calling for the ISIs liquidation.

Gilani felt that the blame game should be avoided as both countries had an institutionalised counter-terrorism mechanism, which was working satisfactorily. We reject the Indian allegations levelled against our intelligence agencies and armed forces, Gilani told the media in Colombo. He had a breakfast meeting with Karzai, and both leaders agreed to adopt a common strategy to combat terrorism along with their coalition partners NATO and the International Security Assistance Force. A joint statement issued after the talks said that the two sides agreed to coordinate efforts to stop cross-border terrorism.

The summit devoted time to other issues, too. The Colombo Declaration approved the immediate setting up of a Food Bank to cope with shortages that have affected the region following a global rise in fuel prices.

The summit agreed to establish once again South Asia as a major granary of the world, through a series of regional collaborative projects. SAARC leaders also announced plans to improve energy security in the region, home to one-fifth of the worlds population.

Iran, which was admitted as an observer, offered to pitch in with its abundant energy resources. SAARC leaders agreed to focus on developing hydropower and renewable energy sources.

Not much progress was made on trade issues. The South Asia Free Trade Area, which came into being two years ago, has failed to make much of an impact. Intra-SAARC trade remains at just over 5 per cent of South Asian nations total trade.