SHARING HIS CONCERN: Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (left) with the delegates at the second conference of the India & Asia Regions Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, in New Delhi on Saturday. — PTI

NEW DELHI: A day after a bomb hoax disrupted Parliament proceedings, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat described terrorism as a direct attack on democracy and human dignity and underlined the need for a united bid to root out the scourge.

India as the largest democracy had been a victim of terrorism for the past so many years and much before the world came to realise its menacing dimension.

Mr. Shekhawat, who is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, was inaugurating the second conference of the India & Asia Regions Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) here.

There was need for a joint fight against terrorism. "Then alone democracy will be able to establish an environment of peace and harmony that is conducive to unhindered growth and speedy development.''

India has shown the way

India had shown how people's problems could be successfully addressed through discussion, dialogue and decisions taken in a spirit of consensus, peace and harmony, he told about 140 delegates from the CPA branches of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Cautioning that globalisation should not be adopted just for the growth of business and trade, he said it should be the route to build a more equitable world with fuller democracy.

It was important that the WTO regime safeguarded the interests of developing countries and particularly farmers. Only then would globalisation be meaningful, Mr. Shekhawat said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, in his keynote address, advocated sharing of information and expertise and pooling of resources in the region to mitigate sufferings caused by natural calamities.

Appropriate legislation would go a long way in reducing the impact of such disasters, he said and referred to the passage of the Disaster Management Bill by Parliament.

India had put in place a national framework, covering a disaster prevention strategy, an early warning system, disaster mitigation, preparedness and response and human resource development. It was keen on sharing its expertise and experience with the Asian neighbours.

Mr. Chatterjee's comments came in the context of one of the two themes at the two-day conference: Tackling Natural Disasters in the Region — Need for Synergic Efforts among the Nations of the Region.

Children's well-being

On the problems of children, the other subject for discussion, he said they were the most vulnerable section of society and their well-being required political initiative and action at the highest level.

Putting in money in children's education, health and nutrition was an investment in national development.

Emphasising the CPA's effectiveness in the development of the countries in the region, Mohammed Soomro, Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, said parliamentarians owed similar social and economic obligations to their people.

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