 |
Kathmandu Tuesday January 08, 2002 Paush 24, 2058.
|
South Asian row
This refers to a news story titled "Club
Himalaya reels as Nagarkot retreat gets aborted" dated January 5, 2002, TKP.Club
Himalayan did spend some money to renovate the building and even made some purchases.
Unfortunately, heads of SAARC state or country refused to spend a night at Nagarkot,
citing the Indian Prime Minister be forced to speak Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.
It seemed the SAARC summit had been hosted only to bring Pakistan and India closer or
defuse Indo-Pak tensions.
Kashmir problem has completed more than five
decades and neither India nor Pakistan is going to disclaim it. However, such a dispute
has not only cost India’s development but also crippled Pakistan economically.
Pakistan is poorer than Bangladesh and India is 50 years behind China in terms of economic
development. Yet both countries continue to claim Kashmir and fight for it. More than
25,000 people have lost their lives since the Kashmir war began. Nepal also bore the brunt
after India banned the Pakistani airlines to fly over Indian territory. Thousands of
tourists used to visit Nepal via Pakistan. The region seems to have been embroiled in
political conflicts and the heads of SAARC state did not attempt to resolve this problem
this time too. The 11th SAARC summit was a mere waste of money.
The Indian Prime Minister should have visited
Lumbini before he came to Nepal. If he had done so, he would have learnt how to handle
Kashmir better. We never learn how to share ideas and help those who are poor. In fact we
create poor rather than eradicate it. We create conflicts rather than resolve them since
we never realise what is our mistake nor do we attempt to understand the ground reality.
Because we are so poor that we have even lost faith among ourselves.
SAARC will never materialise until we sort
out our differences and work together for the common regional goal: economic union.
Rajesh Chhetri
Kathmandu |
