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SAARC nations strive for SAFTA accord

By B. Muralidhar Reddy
and Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD Dec. 31. Bilateral contacts between India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the SAARC summit are possible if the regional grouping succeeds in adopting the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) framework and the additional protocol to the Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism.

Highly-placed sources said this evening that these were the two issues that dominated the opening day of the standing committee meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. At the end of the first day, official-level discussions continued in the hope of a possible agreement.

Indications are that as the host country Pakistan is keen on achieving a consensus on both the free trade framework and the additional protocol on terrorism. Most countries assembled here are aware that without a pact on SAFTA, the summit would not be much of a success.

As for the additional protocol on terrorism, the differences are mainly between India and Pakistan on the definition of terrorism. While Pakistan wants a distinction made between ``freedom struggles'' and terrorism in the context of Kashmir, India is opposed to any such categorisation.

India, it appears, is not against showing flexibility in trying to reach an accord on the additional protocol on terrorism. The discussions will continue tomorrow.

Official sources said that experts from member-countries met separately to complement the efforts of the Foreign Secretaries in an attempt to narrow down the differences on SAFTA. As things stand, Bangladesh has reservations about the treaty and wants the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to be given preferential treatment.

"It is not correct to be over-optimistic on the trade agreement at this juncture though in our informal consultations once again special efforts would be made for an agreement. If the Foreign Secretaries fail, another effort would be made at the meeting of Foreign Ministers beginning January 2 as there is a feeling that we should not let the summit happen without SAFTA," a senior official privy to the Foreign Secretaries meeting told The Hindu.

The additional protocol on terrorism mainly deals with measures to curb the financing of terrorism in the context of 9/11. While there is no disagreement on the objective, India and Pakistan differ on the approach. India is for bringing the convention in line with a series of post 9/11 United Nations Resolutions and Pakistan favours the adoption of the 2003 Non-Aligned Movement Declaration.

The regional convention on terrorism came into force in 1988 following its ratification by the SAARC member-states. On a proposal made by Sri Lanka after 9/11, the member-states had decided that an additional protocol would be included in the convention on suppression of terrorism. A draft of the protocol was prepared by Sri Lanka in May 2002. While there was general agreement on it, an impasse was created as Pakistan and India called for certain modifications in the preamble.

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