SAARC should declare 2009: 'Year to fight Terrorism'

Victims of terror

Rajiv Gandhi		Ranasinghe Premadasa

Benazir Bhutto		Gen. Zia Ul Haq

Gen. Zia Ur Rahman		Indira Gandhi

The stage is now set for the historic fifteenth SAARC Summit in Colombo. A tight security blanket is thrown around the city to ensure the safety of all eight leaders representing the respective nations. The security of all leaders is of paramount importance to the host country. Why? Because the entire region is threatened by terrorism.

Terrorism and extremism are not confined only to Sri Lanka. Its' a growing menace witnessed in the region over the past three and a half decades. Regional cooperation among the South Asian nations were sought to resolve many issues.

Today, terrorism is the main issue that should be put on top of the agenda. The fifteenth SAARC Summit in Colombo is an opportunity to give priority to find ways and means to eliminate the menace of terrorism.

The late President of Bangladesh, Gen. Zia Ur Rahman first mooted the idea of South Asian Regional Cooperation for the creation of a trade bloc, a proposal graciously accepted by other nations in this region. SAARC was first conceived in 1983 during a Summit in New Delhi.

In reality, the concept of SAARC is a quarter century in age though it officially saw the light of the day in 1985 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since, we in the South Asian Region have witnessed 14 SAARC Declarations to date.

At the inaugural Summit in Dhaka, 1985, all leaders of the seven nations declared- "Leaders of the South Asian countries reaffirmed their commitment to the UN Charter and the principles governing sovereign equality of States, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in internal affairs and non-use or threat of use of force against the territorial integrity and political independence of other States."

At that Summit they reiterated that the United Nations constituted the most important forum for the resolution of all issues affecting international security and peace.

SAARC which is twenty three years of age seems to be singing the same chorus all the time. If one looks back at successive Declarations made at all fourteen Summits, it makes one feel that the same old wine is put in new bottles.

The wording of such Declarations and terminologies used, look the same or similar with less or no results achieved. Today this column is written to highlight certain urgent needs of the region and not to be critical of the worthy forum called the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

It is appropriate to record the sad history in this region during the past quarter century. The region lost the architect of SAARC who first wanted a trade bloc in the region, President Zia Ur Rahman, as a result of a criminal act.

Terrorism is defined as 'Criminal' according to SAARC Declarations. He was gunned down in Chittagong. Gen. Rahman, a brave soldier visited Sri Lanka as Bangladesh President in 1979 during the first term of office of late President J. R. Jayewardene.

On his arrival at the Colombo Airport, Katunayake he was first met by the then Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and later Defence Secretary, the late Gen. Sepala Attygalle. The next to be killed was former Indian Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi, a victim of extremist Sikh terrorism. All that happened quite closer to the birth of SAARC.

After SAARC was born, the region has lost four leaders who represented SAARC Summits due to extremist or terrorist acts.

The first to go in an yet unexplained air crash was the tough Pakistani President Gen. Zia Ul Haq. Popularly known as Gen. Zia, the late Pakistani President was a member of the British Indian Army Cavalry Regiment who served the Second World War in 1943.

On August 17, 1988, the C-130 aircraft carrying the sixth Pakistani President who was also the eight Army Chief, crashed in a mysterious manner killing Gen. Zia and one of his Army stalwarts.

He was followed by Rajiv Gandhi, a former Indian Prime Minister. He succeeded his mother, Ms. Indira Gandhi. Rajiv was killed by a woman LTTE suicide bomber at Siriperumbudur, South India during an election rally.

Rajiv was the Indian architect of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord with President Jayewardene in July 1987 that paved the way for the presence of Indian troops on this soil to battle the LTTE at a later stage. The killing of Gandhi was a warning to India by the LTTE.

But the main culprit, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who masterminded the killing of Gandhi, killed over a thousand troops and maimed a further five thousand of the fourth largest Army in the world is still at large hiding in the thick jungles of Mullaitivu in this small island of Sri Lanka.

Prabhakaran seems to look smarter in the game he played with mighty India than the famous Indian bandit Veerappan who was playing hide and seek till he was finally killed by the Indian Police inside the large thick jungles in that South Indian State.

After killing Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, the LTTE assassinated the second Executive President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa who was inspecting his May Day rally in 1993. Premadasa also served his nation as the eleventh Prime Minister for eleven years.

President Premadasa at the time of his tragic death was battling the LTTE after peace talks with the terrorist group failed an year before his death. The LTTE as usual made its' military build up using the peace talks and the ceasefire to take on the then Premadasa administration.

The second woman leader in the SAARC region and the first woman Prime Minister of a Muslim country to be killed by extremists at an election rally last December, was the former Pakistani Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto.

Ms. Bhutto represented her country at the SAARC Summit. She weathered the political storm in her country for three decades, went into exile and returned in November 2007 only to be killed a month later.

So terrorism and extremism have taken the lives of four prominent leaders who represented SAARC.

Now let us examine the outcome and success of SAARC at successive Summits. SAARC declared 1989 as -"SAARC year for combating Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking" at the Islamabad Summit in 1988. Nearly two decades have passed, the results achieved are not known.

But, the reality is that drug abuse and trafficking of drugs, which is a funding source for terrorism had increased.

The year 1990 was declared-"SAARC Year of the Girl Child". Haven't the abuse of girl child and rape in this region during the past eighteen years increased many a fold? Surely, this is an area which needs urgent focus of SAARC nations.

Then the Year 2000 was declared as a "Basic Needs Perspective" which covered food, clothing, education and other social needs to the people in the region. On the contrary, the poverty level had increased many folds over the past eight years in this region with a world food shortage also at sight.

At the 1990 Summit in Male, Maldives, the year 1991 was declared as the"SAARC Year of Shelter".

Though the move was made much belated, Sri Lanka by then had moved in that direction with great success due to the efforts of then President Premadasa who tirelessly worked to provide shelter for the shelterless from 1977 creating the concept of a million houses program for the under privileged.

He even moved that concept to the global eye at the United Nations forum. The region is yet to know the success of that declaration made in 1990 and the quantum of houses that came up in 1991 in this region.

The year 1991 and the Colombo Declaration were of significance to the region. Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, whose island nation badly hit by LTTE terrorism focused on the danger posed to the region by terrorism in the respective member States.

Thus it was declared-"Heads of States or Government expressed serious concern on the spread of terrorism in the region affecting the security and stability of all member States and unequivocally condemned all such acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal.

They recognised that cooperation among SAARC nations was vital if terrorism was to be prevented and eliminated from the region. In this regard they urged member States to take all necessary measures to give full effect to their obligations under the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism.

They stressed in particular, the urgent need for expeditious enactment of enabling legislation by those member States which had not yet done so, for the implementation of the Convention and the need for a constant dialogue and interaction among the concerned agencies of member States, including the submission of periodic recommendations to the Council of Ministers".

The leaders of the then seven nation SAARC who met in Dhaka in 1993 for the seventh Summit stressed the need to give high priority to the enactment of enabling legislation at the national level to give effect to the SAARC Convention of the Suppression of Terrorism urging all member States to make every effort to finalise the matter before the eight SAARC Summit.

The eighth Summit was held in New Delhi (May 2-4), 1995. Though two years lapsed after expressing grave concern calling for the urgent enactment of the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, all member States appeared to have overlooked that urgent call made by the leaders at the previous Summit. Once again at the New Delhi Summit, the leaders called for the urgent need to have it done.

After a period an year, the leaders of the seven nations met at the ninth Summit in Male,Republic of Maldives, May (12-14), 1997. There again the leaders repeated the necessity and urgency to have the legislation in place for the enactment of the SAARC Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism.

All leaders were aware of the growing menace of terrorism in the region which had claimed the lives of a Pakistani President, an Indian Prime Minister and a Sri Lankan President who represented their respective nations at SAARC Summits. They were also aware of the threat posed on all incumbent leaders of SAARC nations as a result of terrorism.

Came the tenth SAARC Summit in Colombo the following July. Issuing the Colombo Declaration, all leaders once again stressed the need to fully observe and implement the SAARC Regional Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism. Once again it was the same lyrics, melody and music in that Article which referred to terrorism in the Declaration.

When SAARC leaders moved to Kathmandu, Nepal after four years in 2002 for the eleventh Summit, there appeared no reference to the SAARC Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism in the Kathmandu Declaration from that Capital.

Instead all leaders reiterated their support to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 of September 28, 2001 and affirmed their determination to redouble efforts, to collectively as well as individually to prevent and suppress terrorism in all its forms.

However, all leaders during their addresses to the Summit referred to the need to combat terrorism in the region recalling the 1987 Convention adopted by SAARC in Kathmandu.

The Summits that followed thereafter ritually referred to the Convention to Suppress Terrorism and the need to have its legislation in place for implementation to combat the menace. So the Summit reversed to sing the same song once again.

A Summit is a compulsion by the Charter calling for leaders of member States to meet to discuss regional issues.

All Declarations issued and Conventions signed should not be allowed to look dormant. It is urgent and appropriate that SAARC should adopt a practical system to address urgent issues confronted by member States if all eight nations are to uphold the policy of peace in the region.

No Member State should turn a blind eye when the security of another Member State is threatened by terrorism. The SAARC Convention to Suppress Terrorism which is now over a score in age should not be confined to the cupboard.

There is an urgent need to transform the South Asian region into a Zone of Peace. For that, all member States should work collectively to eradicate terrorism. It is time that all SAARC leaders make a meaningful, practical and worthy contribution to face the challenge of terrorism in this region.

If SAARC was established to promote good neighbourly relations, the need is a more viable and a practical approach from member States to meet challenges.

The priority on the agenda at the forthcoming Summit this week in Colombo should be the need to combat or eliminate terrorism. Without peace there is no real democracy.

It is timely that all SAARC leaders agree and decide to declare the year 2009 as the "Year to fight Terrorism". To make that theme practical in nature, all SAARC nations must be awake all the time from now on.