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LETTERS |
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LETTERS |
South Asian Solidarity The 12th Summit of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been relatively successful in
bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the two bickering nations of South Asia
– India and Pakistan (“Building Consensus” SPOTLIGHT January 9). To the
contrary of all prior calculations and predictions, the leaders of the two countries met
and agreed to carry forward their composite dialogue. In this count alone, the 12th summit
has been successful because if there is peace between India and Pakistan, all other
countries of the region will benefit. Shyam Kumar Dhital Dominated By Bilateral Issues Even though SAARC
stands for regional grouping, it is seen that the primary concern of each of the member
states is to have a meaningful bilateral dialogue with some other regional leaders on the
sidelines of the summit (“Building Consensus” SPOTLIGHT January 9). While
India-Pakistan parleys grabbed international headlines, even Nepalese media were more
concentrated about reporting the bilateral meeting between Nepalese and Bhutanese Prime
Minister. As the Summit was held just a few days after an unexpected development in
Bhutanese refugee problem threatened to undo years of hard work that was about to bear
fruit, the meeting was held in extremely high significance. Likewise, the meetings of
other leaders, too, figured prominently in other countries. As such, it can be said that
SAARC provides a useful pretext for holding bilateral meetings. Dhiraj Gurung Trade Achievement The decision of the
regional leaders to adopt the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) must be taken as a major
achievement of SAARC (“Building Consensus” SPOTLIGHT January 9). In a region
beset with all kinds of problems, economic integration and increased volume of trade and
investment are the only way to ensure alleviation of colossal poverty. The regional
countries must work faster and harder so that the people will be able to taste the fruits
of prosperity. Sunita KC Adopt Nepal’s Proposal In the 12th Summit,
Nepal had proposed that all other countries of the SAARC region follow what it has already
practiced – waive visa fee to SAARC citizens (“Building Consensus”
SPOTLIGHT January 9). Instead of harping tall claims of regional brotherhood and affinity,
other countries would do well by supporting Nepal’s proposal. In fact, Nepal had
decided to waive visa fee to people coming from SAARC region as a gesture of goodwill.
Although, this decision was guided by its objective to increase tourist flow from the
neighboring countries, no one should think that this was the sole reason. Had this been
the sole reason, Nepal would have accorded similar facilities to tourists coming from its
primary markets like Europe, Japan and America. Besides, for Indians there is no
requirement of visa at all. Therefore, the governments of rest of the SAARC countries
should seriously look into this Nepalese proposal and implement it for the sake of
regional solidarity. At a time when regional leaders are talking about free trade, customs
union and South Asian Union, they must initiate by implementing Nepal’s proposal.
After certain period, the SAARC countries could also go for visa-free travel within the
region much like what happens in European Union. At the moment, this thing could appear
far-fetched and impossible to achieve given the terror networks within the region. But,
ultimately the terrorist networks will be defeated and civilization will prevail. All the
SAARC countries should join their hands to achieve this end. India, being the largest
member of the SAARC, and Pakistan, being its second largest member, must take the
initiatives. Then, rest of the member states will automatically join and work together for
the common cause. Until and unless this sort of regional cooperation is worked out, there
will be no succor to the teeming millions of poverty-stricken people of this region. Kailash KC More On Media The cover story
“Questions of Credibility” (January 2 SPOTLIGHT) was a good read. It provided
the gist of the working of Nepalese media. As media present facts to people, it should
also maintain transparency so that people can become more trustful towards them. In our
country, while media points accusing fingers to others, there has been very little or no
analysis on how they themselves work. It is high time that Nepalese media subjected
themselves to tenets of transparency. Otherwise, while media is said to hold mirror to
society, the hand that holds the mirror, themselves, may not be clean. Deepak Shrestha Refugees In The Lurch The process of
repatriation of Bhutanese Refugees has been thrown off the track by the recent brouhaha in
the Khudunabari camp (“Back To Square One?” SPOTLIGHT January 2). Even after the
meeting of Nepalese and Bhutanese Prime Minister in Islamabad, on the sidelines of the
SAARC Summit, the problem does not appear to be anywhere near resolution. At a time when
the prolonging of the refugees impasse could begin to bleed the country, any more delay
could be disastrous. The international community needs to come forward to help Nepal at
this point. Otherwise, they, too, will be held guilty for allowing a humanitarian
situation to come to pass although they had the whole world of time to resolve it. Sushil Bhandari |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
