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The twice postponed 13th SAARC Summit began in Dhaka with the avowed goals of curbing terrorism and expanding economic cooperation in South Asia.
   The seven South Asian leaders, in their opening remarks, termed terrorism a major concern of the region and pledged to curb it mercilessly by wholeheartedly cooperating with each other, and also underlined the need for extensive economic cooperation for the wellbeing of the large number of people in the region who are still mired in dire poverty.
   The summit was declared open at 11:30am in the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre by the Pakistani prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, who is the outgoing chair of the SAARC. The summit began amidst tight security in and around Dhaka.
   They expressed deep concern over the natural calamities that have often devastated the South Asian countries, and expressed the hope of evolving a mechanism to tackle the natural disasters and mitigate the suffering caused by them.
   After his speech, Aziz handed over the chair to Khaleda Zia, the Bangladeshi prime minister.
   Prime ministers Manmohan Singh of India and Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup of Bhutan, as well as presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives, along with King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal, are also attending the summit.
   The summit began with the observation one minute’s silence to pay respect to the victims who died in Asian tsunami in December last year and last month’s earthquakes that devastated several South Asian countries.
   Leaders from the seven member-nations are expected to take the regional group, founded in 1985, into its third decade, which has been termed the decade of implementation.
   Poverty alleviation, disaster prevention, introduction of a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and expansion of the association, apart from curbing terrorism, are the major issues that this summit is expected to deliberate upon.
   The leaders envisaged a slew of programmes in the coming years, outlining a vision for addressing the issues with a view to improve the lot of about 1.5 billion people of the region.
   Before the opening, the leaders visited the National Mausoleum to pay homage to the martyrs who had laid down their lives in the Bangladeshi War of Independence in 1971 and also the grave of former president Ziaur Rahman, who first mooted the idea of a South Asian regional forum.
   Khaleda Zia, who took over as SAARC chair for a year, blamed the mindsets emanating from the past for deterring effective cooperation by SAARC members, and called for simultaneous action on both the political and economic fronts to improve the lot of the people and move the countries forward.
   She made a strong plea for implementing three programmes to address poverty on a regional scale, and put forward five specific suggestions for achieving the objectives of the SAARC Social Charter for economic development in the region.
   She called for ensuring that the SAFTA Agreement enters into force as agreed upon with effect from January next year to realise the forum’s major objective of accelerating economic growth.
   She termed poverty alleviation the overarching goal of all SAARC activities and stressed the need for implementing the Plan of Action on Poverty Alleviation adopted at Islamabad in 2002, the Report of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation and the SAARC Development Goals as instruments to eradicate poverty.
   For establishing a SAARC Poverty Alleviation Fund, she suggested the holding of a meeting by SAARC finance and planning ministers in the first quarter of 2006 to formulate recommendations for setting up the fund and its operational modalities.
   She said it was widely recognised that there was a need to create an enabling political and economic environment for materialisation of a South Asian Economic Union.
   The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, stressed the need to overcome the historical divisions in South Asia for a mutually beneficial economic partnership, saying that cooperation under SAARC in the past two decades has fallen far short of expectation.
   ‘There is an imperative need to change and overcome the divisions of history and politics to forge a new architecture of mutually beneficial economic partnership. India, for its part, remains ready for this endeavour,’ said Manmohan at the opening ceremony.
   He said, ‘I hope SAFTA comes into force by January 1, 2006, but even this will represent only a modest beginning in terms of our goal of regional cooperation.’
   The Indian premier said more liberal movement of people and goods across the borders also requires greater sensitivity on the part of all member countries to pressing concerns. No member country should allow its territory to be used against the interest of another member country, he added.
   Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, while making a set of proposals, suggested promoting cooperation in the field of energy, environmental protection, improvement of infrastructure and coordination in monetary and fiscal policies of the SAARC member-states.

Former president of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman, on Saturday was posthumously accorded the first ever SAARC Award for his contribution to the effort of uniting the regional leaders under the banner of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation two decades ago.
   Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistan prime minister and the immediate past chairperson of the forum, formally handed over the award to the family of the late president who was assassinated in May 1981.
   Zia’s eldest son, Tarique Rahman, received the award from Aziz at the inaugural session of the 13th summit of the South Asian group.
   The SAARC secretary general, Chenkyab Dorji, read out a citation saying that the award is a recognition of the vision and initiative of the late president Ziaur Rahman that created the ground for the establishment of the seven-nation forum.
   Zia had initiated the process of fostering cooperation among regional leaders, but his efforts were cut short when he was killed in a military putsch four years before the group came into being in December 1985.
   Before the inaugural session of the summit, the SAARC leaders placed floral wreaths at the grave of the late president. They also jointly inaugurated a plaque containing a letter written by him in the late 1970s to the then South Asian leaders.
   The leaders, in their deliberations at the summit, acknowledged the contribution of Ziaur Rahman and pledged to move forward with the seven-nation forum according to his vision.
   The Pakistan prime minister described Ziaur Rahman as a great visionary for bringing South Asia onto a common platform for cooperation.
   The introduction of the SAARC Award was mooted by Nepal during the 11th summit held in Kathmandu in January 2002, and the idea was adopted in the 12th summit held in Islamabad last year.
   The decision of giving the first ever SAARC Award to Ziaur Rahman was taken at the 25th session of the SAARC’s council of ministers in Islamabad, held on July 20-21 this year.
   The award will honour and encourage outstanding individuals and organisations in the region who are working for peace, development, poverty alleviation, etc.

Effective implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area by the scheduled date of January 1, 2006, as promised by ministers of the two regional powers on Thursday, is an ambitious proposition as fundamental disagreements on major issues remain, latest developments on the negotiating front suggest.
   The foreign minister of Pakistan and India’s junior foreign ministers on Thursday vowed to implement SAFTA ‘on time’.
   However, Bangladeshi trade experts involved in the negotiations believe such an ‘implementation’ will at best be a partial commissioning of the proposed free trade area as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh hold firm on their respective stands on key issues like rules of origin and revenue compensation.
   Technically, the experts say, the agreement may come into effect on the date, agreed upon at the Islamabad summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in 2004, even if discord remains over the most crucial issue of the sensitive list of products to be exempt from the tariff-free regime.
   In that case, it can hardly be called a free-trade area agreement, they maintain.
   Such a ‘half-baked agreement’ can only come about if the signatory states agree on the value addition criteria for specific products not covered by the general rules of origin which, the experts contend, is ‘highly unlikely’.
   Trade representatives, who have so far had 11 rounds of negotiations on the key SAFTA issues, agreed at their 10th meeting in Kathmandu that the minimum requirement for value addition under the general rules of origin criteria would be 30 per cent for the least developed countries and 40 per cent for the developed countries.
   They failed, however, to reach a consensus on the criteria for products that have export potentials but do not the meet the general rules of origin criteria at the meeting, held between Augusts 31 and September 3. Bangladesh and India are in favour of lower value addition for such products, according to sources.
   The latest round of talks, held in the Nepalese capital between October 18 and 19, made no headway either as neither the developing countries – India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – nor the least developed countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal – agreed to trim their respective sensitive lists of products.
   ‘The agreement can take partial effect on the designated date if consensus is not reached on sensitive lists within the next one and a half months or so,’ a commerce ministry official, who has attended all the 11 rounds of talks, told New Age last week.
   The negotiations may continue after the agreement takes effect and the lists can be revised on the basis of consensus, he added.
   Should the political signal come from the SAARC leaders on the implementation of the agreement on January 1, it will be nearly impossible to put SAFTA in motion as the signatory countries have to issue statutory regulatory orders for tariff reduction on between 3,000 and 4,000 items within now and the designated date, says a National Board of Revenue high official.
   He also points out that fiscal year starts in the member countries in different times, between January and July, which will create a procedural hazard.
   ‘The issuance of SRO on a large number of items will certainly compromise budgetary discipline which is why every country wants to effect the tariff cuts [for SAFTA] during budget formulation,’ said the revenue official, who represented Bangladesh at four of the 11 meetings on SAFTA. ‘A bold political decision can still make it possible.’
   India’s junior foreign minister E Ahamed said late Thursday that delegations had agreed to implement SAFTA on time and would work to resolve all outstanding issues by the end of November to maintain the timetable.
   ‘There will be a clear message from SAARC leaders that any pending issues must be resolved by the end of November by the committee of experts,’ he said.
   The committee is due to meet in late November.
   ‘Though there are some outstanding issues like rules of origin, SAFTA can be launched in due time,’ Pakistan’s foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told reporters. ‘We will suggest experts concerned to expedite the process so that SAFTA could be launched in due time.’
   The resolution of pending issues, especially rules of origin for specific products, will be difficult to say the least, say trade experts.
   Dhaka has an issue with both New Delhi and Islamabad on value addition for readymade garments.
   India and Pakistan vehemently opposed at the 10th and 11th meetings of the experts, as Bangladesh demanded a 20 per cent value addition for its RMG export, sources said.
   ‘India and Pakistan want to offer 30 per cent value addition on RMG that Bangladesh cannot afford to export,’ a commerce ministry official told New Age.
   Both countries eventually offered two conditions; that Bangladesh must buy fabric from SAFTA members for RMG exports and that New Delhi and Islamabad must be allowed to put quota restriction on Bangladesh RMG products, the sources said.
   ‘Either we have to accept the SAARC cumulation method for getting duty facility from the SAFTA members or be happy with 20 per cent value addition in case India and Pakistan stick to their positions,’ an NBR high official told New Age.
   Bangladesh imports more than 80 per cent of the fabrics it needs for RMG exports from China, and the rest from India and Pakistan, according to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
   ‘Dhaka would not be benefited much from a tariff facility point of view in accepting SAARC cumulation,’ the revenue official said.
   Furthermore, accepting the cumulation method would be difficult as textile manufacturers and RMG exporters are divided on accepting the formula, sources said.
   Besides readymade garments the Bangladeshi products that have potentials for export to the South Asian markets are tea and pharmaceuticals.
   It has the capacity to add local value of above 30 per cent for tea and pharmaceutical exports while woven garments can meet at best 20 per cent value addition as major raw materials are imported, say sources in the industry.
   ‘It is the decision of our leadership, which one would term a ‘success’, that SAFTA should be implemented on time without any possible export benefit or taking more time to convince India and Pakistan for a win-win situation,’ a high official in the Tariff Commission told New Age.
   As far as revenue compensation is concerned, it is learnt that India and Pakistan have been opposing to give compensation to LDCs having no other domestic arrangement to earn revenue other than import duty in case their revenue income falls due to free trade under the SAFTA agreement, sources said.
   According to the SAFTA charter, clause no 12(E), LDCs having no internal arrangement of earning revenue other than customs revenue only be given revenue compensation by developing country concerned once its such earnings is affected by the export of any developing states to the LDC country concerned under the trade liberalisation programme of SAFTA.
   ‘Political leaders should give us signal whether Dhaka would deviate from its position on revenue compensation,’ a commerce ministry high official told New Age.
   He would not comment on the legitimacy of Dhaka’s demand for revenue compensation when there was a clear provision in the SAFTA charter.
   ‘Trade [import] of Bangladesh would certainly be diverted from countries like China and Korea to SAFTA member countries, which will have negative impact on revenue,’ he said.

The Bangladesh prime minister, Khaleda Zia, and the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, stressed the need for strengthening ties to reap the maximum mutual benefits from the relations between the two next-door neighbours.
   The two top leaders at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 13th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation also discussed various matters related to Indo-Bangla relations.
   Manmohan discussed how SAARC could be made a stronger forum under the leadership of Khaleda Zia, who was elected chairman of the seven-nation forum, according to the Indian external affairs secretary, Shyam Saran.
   Asked whether curbing terrorism was discussed at the meeting, the Indian official told a press briefing that India had wanted the border to be peaceful.
   ‘We want neither Indian nor Bangladeshi land to be used by any terrorists,’ he said.
   He said the two leaders had stressed the need for reaping maximum benefits from their relations.
   The Bangladesh foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, said the two leaders had discussed trade deficit and the development of trade relations. They also discussed improving existing bilateral relations.
   The Bangladesh leader also had bilateral meetings with the Pakistani prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, and the Sri Lankan president, Chndrika Kumaratunga Bandaranaike, on Saturday and discussed matters of mutual interests.
   Khaleda Zia is scheduled to meet Nepalese King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Maldivian president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and the Bhutanese prime minister, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, today.
   Manmohan also had meetings with Chandrika Kumaratunga, Shaukat Aziz, and former Bangladesh president HM Ershad.
   During the talks, Aziz and Manmohan discussed how they could expedite relief operation in the earthquake-hit Kashmir as the two countries opened a number of points on the line of control in Kashmir.
   They also discussed ways for tackling terrorism the two countries have for long been facing.

Security forces around the capital were put on a heightened alarm after the detection of a SAARC Summit security pass forgery on Saturday afternoon.
   The police detected the forgery by Agrani Multi-colour, a photocopy shop at Nilkhet, and arrested two employees of the shop — Alamin and Babul.
   The arrested are being extensively interrogated, the police said on Saturday night.
   The duty officer of Nilkhet police told New Age that a team had conducted the drive after the recovery of a blurred copy of the security pass at about 3:00pm.
   Security personnel were trying to identify the security personnel whose pass had been copied and who had copied it.
   Sources in the security forces said security in and around the 11 official venues of the SAARC summit had been further increased.
   They said the incident had been taken seriously since there was a threat to carry out subversive act during the summit.
   Meanwhile, the Rapid Action Battalion on Friday night detained two employees of a cyber café on the Tajmahal Road in Mohammadpur area of the city for their suspected involvement with Thursday night’s death threats through e-mail to the prime ministers of Bangladesh and India.
   The two — Sumon Sarker and Mafidul Islam — were being interrogated by the battalion members till Saturday night.
   The e-mail was sent to some national dailies in the name of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh.
   The mail sender who used his name as Kamal also threatened to blow up the venue of the SAARC summit.

India and Pakistan on Saturday opened a third crossing point on the disputed Kashmir border to facilitate the flow of aid to desperate earthquake survivors as fresh rain and snow hit the Himalayan region.
   Indian army colonel J Nair and Pakistani army lieutenant colonel Shahid shook hands in the middle of a foot bridge over the fast-flowing Kishen Ganga River, to the applause of onlookers from both sides.
   They then allowed porters to carry food and other aid supplies across the border into the Pakistan-administered zone of Kashmir, hit hardest by the October 8 quake.
   ‘It’s a great honour to be part of this relief operation,” said Ghulam Rasool, a porter who was the third to cross over from the Indian side.
   The relief supplies are destined for the tens of thousands left stricken by the 7.6-magnitude temblor, which killed at least 73,000 people in Pakistan and another 1,300 people in Indian Kashmir.
   Millions have been left homeless in Pakistan, prompting fears they could fall victim to the bitter Himalayan winter should aid supplies not reach them. Many are living in tents or temporary sheds made of plastic, tin and wood.
   ‘Each day the crossing will open at 11:30 (am) and close at 3:30 (pm),’ said district administrator Abdul Majeed Khanday. ‘This crossing will remain open indefinitely.’
   ‘Soon the crossing will be thrown open for the civilians. That is the purpose of these crossings. We want people to visit their relatives and share their grief and pain.’
   India and Pakistan opened the first crossing along the Line of Control—the de facto border that divides Kashmir between them—on Monday in southern Poonch district, followed two days later by another in the northern Uri sector.
   The opening of two more border crossings is set to take place next week.
   The move to open the ceasefire line after a gap of almost 60 years has been hailed as a major confidence-building measure between the two nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

China on Saturday reported its eighth outbreak of bird flu in less than a month, as Thai authorities rushed to investigate the first confirmed human infection in the capital Bangkok.
   China’s latest outbreak, which killed 2,500 birds, occurred in two villages in Jingshan county, part of Hubei province in the country’s vast rural interior, the agriculture ministry said in a statement on its website.
   Health officials culled more than 31,300 birds on farms within a radius of three kilometres from the outbreak, according to the ministry.
   Hubei is squeezed in between Anhui and Hunan, two other provinces where avian flu has been confirmed since last month, when the virus suddenly returned to China after a lengthy lull.
   China has so far not reported a single confirmed human case of bird flu, although official fears are mounting that people might have been infected.
   Health and agricultural departments in the north-eastern province of Liaoning said Friday a female chicken farmer was undergoing further tests to determine whether she had bird flu, making her the fourth suspected human case in China. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said its knowledge of the Liaoning case was limited to media reports and information on the health ministry’s website.
   ‘That’s all the information we have right now,’ said Roy Wadia, a Beijing-based WHO spokesman. ‘We’re certainly keeping an eye on it through the information provided by the Ministry of Health.’
   The details of the three other suspected cases—including a 12-year-old girl who died—were being investigated Saturday by WHO experts working with Chinese officials, he said.
   It could be at least one or two weeks before the WHO will be able to say with certainty if these are human cases of bird flu in China, he said.
   In Thailand, authorities Saturday rushed to investigate the home of an 18-month-old boy who was diagnosed with bird flu, in the first case of the disease found in the capital Bangkok.
   The house where the boy contracted the virus had two chickens and one fighting cock, which died on October 31 but were only reported to authorities after the boy fell sick, officials said.
   The public health ministry said the boy fell ill on November 1 and went to hospital on November 3 with a runny nose, fever and coughing.
   The boy’s 65-year-old grandmother has also shown symptoms of the disease, but so far has tested negative. Doctors were awaiting the results of further tests, expected by Sunday.
   The boy is the 21st case of bird flu diagnosed in Thailand since the H5N1 virus was first detected in the country in January 2004. Thirteen of those cases have been fatal.

The body of New Age editor and weekly Holiday editor-in-chief Enayetullah Khan is expected to arrive in Dhaka Monday morning.
   Enayetullah died in Toronto General Hospital Thursday morning local time at the age of 66.
   The body is scheduled to arrive at Zia International Airport by a British Airways flight at 6:20am.
   The coffin will be taken directly to his residence at Charukunja at 77, Gulshan. It will then be taken to the offices of New Age and Holiday at about 10:00am.
   The body will then be taken to the National Press Club at around 11:00am and a janaza will be held there.
   It will be taken to the residence of his younger brother, Shahidullah Khan Badal, at House 23 on Gulshan Road 113.
   The body is expected to remain there between 1:00pm and 3:30pm for viewing. Another janaza will be held after asr prayers at the Gulshan Central Mosque. He will be laid to rest in the Banani graveyard.
   Condolences on his death, meanwhile, kept pouring in on Saturday.
   Different organisations including the associations of journalists, lawyers, and freedom fighters, political parties, human rights organisations and non-governmental organisations had meetings and issued messages to offer their condolences on his death.
   Journalist Nirmal Sen recalled the contribution of Enayetullah Khan to journalism and to building the image of the country.
   The ailing journalist also urged journalists covering the 13th SAARC summit to announce an award in memory of Enayetullah — Enayetullah Khan journalist medal — in the ongoing summit.
   ‘A top-to-bottom anti-imperialist and secular journalist like Enayetullah is rare and his death broke my right hand,’ Nirmal Sen said in a massage on Saturday.
   Kamal Hossain in a message said Enayetullah had played a unique role in mobilising public opinion on important national issues through his writings.
   His independent thinking was reflected in his writings and activities. He was provocative in his comments, but left no one in doubt as to his patriotism and basic commitment to the people.
   The loss will leave a void not only among his family and friends, but in the nation as a whole at a time when independent voices are the need of the hour.
   Noted journalist Serajur Rahman expressed his sympathy with the bereaved family.
   Environment and forest minister Tariqul Islam in a statement expressed his shock at the death and said in his death the nation had lost a pioneer in journalism.
   Bangladesh Human Rights Commission chairman Justice AKM Sadek and secretary general Saiful Islam Dildar in a statement expressed their shock at the death and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.
   Leaders of Freedom Fighters’ Council expressed their shock at the death and expressed sympathy with the bereaved family.
   The council chairman, M Nurul Huda, and secretary general Abdullahheel Safi in a statement said the country had lost a freedom-loving man in his death.
   ‘He was a successful student leader, journalist, organiser, diplomat, minister, ambassador and active in writing against collaboration,’ the statement said.
   The Democratic Lawyers’ Association of Bangladesh president, Shafique Ahmed, and general secretary Jahidul Bari in a statement expressed their shock and prayed for the salvation of the departed soul.
   Jatiya Front organised a mourning rally at Monayem Khan Auditorium in the morning where the speakers recalled aspects of his colourful life.
   Presided over by the executive president of the front, also secretary general of NAP (Bhasani), Sheikh Anowarul Haque, Mulim League executive president AHM Kamruzzaman Khan, Gana Mukti Andolan secretary general Golam Mostafa Bhuiyan, Muslim League secretary general Atikul Islam, Jatiyatabadi Oikyer Dak president Harun-ar-Rashid, and Ganatantrik Sarbahara Party president Ahsanul Haque Bachchu also spoke.
   Al-Falah Bangladesh executive editor Ahmed Ilias, global vice-president and country director of the Hunger Project Bangladesh Badiul Alam Majumdar, chief executive officer of Impact PR M Shamsur Rahman, former vice-president of the Dhaka University Students’ Union Badrul Alam, chief patron of Bangladesh Bihari Rehabilitation Assembly Niaz Ahmed, honorary consul general of Japan in Chittagong Nurul Islam, and leaders of the Chittagong Social Development Forum offered their condolences on the death.
   The leaders of different journalists’ organizations, including the Narsingdi Press Club, Jessore Press Club, and Journalists’ Union of Jessore, also expressed condolences.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, on Saturday made a strong plea for implementing three instruments to address poverty on a regional scale and put forward five specific suggestions to achieve the objectives of the SAARC Social Charter for economic development in South Asia.
   Addressing the inaugural session of the landmark 13th SAARC Summit, Khaleda called for ensuring that the SAFTA agreement should come into force as agreed with effect from January next year to realise the forum’s major objective of accelerating economic growth.
   Terming poverty alleviation the overarching goal of all SAARC activities, she stressed on implementing the Plan of Action on Poverty Alleviation adopted at Islamabad summit in 2002, the Report of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation and the SAARC Development Goals as instruments to eradicate poverty.
   Khaleda underlined the need for mobilising all necessary human and material resources to implement these three instruments.
   Describing the current summit as ‘a window of opportunity for SAARC nations’, the prime minister proposed declaring the coming 2006-2015 the ‘SAARC Decade of Poverty Alleviation’ by the leaders of the regional forum.
   Referring to the proposal for establishing a SARRC Poverty Alleviation Fund, she suggested holding a meeting by SAARC finance and planning ministers within the first quarter of 2006 to formulate recommendations on setting up the fund and its operational modalities.
   Khaleda said it was recognised that for realisation of a South Asian Economic Union, there was a need to create an enabling political and economic environment. Lessons from other regional organisations, she said, show that simultaneous movement was required on all fronts, both political and economic, in ways acceptable to all concerned.
   While making five specific suggestions for implementing SAARC Social Charter, Khaleda called for setting up a regional mechanism for follow-up and implementation of the SAARC Social Charter to ensure economic development.
   During her 25-minute speech, the prime minister stressed the need for making concerted efforts to achieve the objectives of the Social Charter adopted by SAARC leaders during the Islamabad summit that charted plan to elaborate and implement regional programmes and projects in areas requiring collective response.
   She also suggested that stakeholders including the private sector and the media should be encouraged to contribute to the objectives of the SAARC Social Charter, to undertake a mid-term review of the progress in realising the goals of the SAARC decade on the rights of child and called for ratification by December this year of the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children and of the SAARC Convention on Child Welfare.
   She stressed the need for achieving substantial increase in intra-regional trade and investment as an immediate task to accelerate economic growth, a major SAARC objective.
   Khaleda said she was happy that four trade and investment facilitation agreements relating to customs, taxation, investment and arbitration had been finalised and was scheduled to be signed today.
   Describing South Asia, which accounts for one-fifth of the world’s population, as an economic giant with unlimited potential, Khaleda said ‘realising South Asia’s true potential is the challenge we are facing today.’
   She identified widespread incidence of poverty, meagre intra- regional trade and less flow of foreign direct investment in South Asia as formidable obstacles confronting the region.
   Khaleda went on saying that the South Asia is not immune from continuing risks of currency realignments, creeping protectionism and the emergence of regional trading blocs.
   She called upon all SAARC countries to promote regional cooperation to address the common challenges, close ranks to face challenges of the post-MFA regime, enhance ability to compete, and strengthen the bargaining position in global trade negotiations.
   She also urged all SAARC leaders to make a fresh vow to unite for addressing the common challenges facing the nations and work for realising the aspirations of our peoples for a peaceful, progressive and prosperous South Asia.
   The prime minister suggested formulation of a common investment strategy through better coordination of relevant policies and procedures to establish a SAARC Investment Area to generate investment flows from within and outside the region.
   On energy sector, she urged all countries to take initiatives for exploitation of the region’s energy resources, setting up energy grids and promoting energy trade.
   Referring to South Asia’s tourism potential, Khaleda called for adopting a strategy to promote South Asia as a single tourist destination.
   She urged all heads of state and government to extend SAARC Tourism Year to 2006 and called for expansion of air services among the member countries, development of professional marketing and simplification of visa procedures.

The Bhuta-nese prime minister, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, called upon the regional leaders to set a target for eradicating poverty from the SAARC countries.
   The prime minister said tranquility among people would remain a far cry until and unless the fundamental demands of people like food, security, health care and education were not met.
   To this end a decision was taken at the 12th SAARC summit to forge an independent South Asian Commission to eradicate poverty, he said, adding a historic initiative had already been taken for the SAARC countries to form a poverty eradication fund and a plan was also worked out.
   Referring to the reciprocal and friendly culture among the SAARC member countries, he said this was the most significant achievement of the SAARC.
   The SAARC has now stepped into its third decade and this is high time that we evaluate the achievements of the SAARC and utilise them for the welfare of the people, he noted.
   He said, ‘Regionally, taking some required projects in hands, we should work on the basis of preferential treatment and thus turning the SAARC into a most effective organisation in the new century.
   Prime minister Lyonpo said in some cases collective efforts were needed to strengthen the SAARC and to generate an air of cooperation among SAARC members.

The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, Satur-day stressed the need for overcoming the historical divisions in South Asia for a mutually beneficial economic partnership, saying the cooperation under the SAARC in the past two decades has fallen far short of expectation.
   There is an imperative need for changing and overcoming the divisions of history and politics to forge a new architecture of mutually beneficial economic partnership.
   India, for its part, remains ready for this endeavour,’ Manmohan said at the opening ceremony of the SAARC Summit.
   He said: ‘At this point in SAARC’s journey, it is fair to ask whether, in the past 20 years, the South Asian nations have done justice to the initial blueprint for regional cooperation.’
   ‘The honest answer is that regional economic cooperation in South Asia has fallen far short of our expectations. It remains far behind the more successful examples in both Asia and other regions of the world,’ the Indian premier said.
   He said: ‘I hope SAFTA comes into force by January 1, 2006 but even this will represent only a modest beginning in terms of our goal for regional cooperation.’
   The challenges the South Asia faces as a region and as members of the larger international community are no longer susceptible to purely national solutions, Manmohan said, calling for assessing regional cooperation in South Asia in the larger Asian context.
   The ASEAN is evolving rapidly into a truly integrated economic community, he said, adding parallel to this intra-ASEAN integration was the broader movement towards economic integration in the context of the proposed East Asian Economic Summit.
   ‘We are clearly witnessing nothing short of an Asian resurgence based upon the rebuilding of the pre-colonial arteries of trade and commerce that created a distinct Asian identity in the first place,’ he said, asking if the SAARC was prepared to be an integral part of this emerging Asian resurgence or was content to remain marginalised at its periphery.
   He said if the SAARC as a region had to recapture its traditional role as a crossroad of culture and commerce, how much necessary was it to remove barriers to the free flow of goods, people and ideas within the region.
   ‘If we wish the next twenty years of the SAARC to be different, we should take the first decision to reconnect the countries of the subcontinent on the one hand and then reconnect the subcontinent to the larger Asian neighbourhood on the other.’
   ‘We need to recharge and regenerate the arteries of transport and communication that bind us together and in turn link our region to the rest of Asia to reclaim the property that is undoubtedly our due.’
   ‘In pursuit of this vision, let us agree, at this summit, that all South Asian countries would provide each other, reciprocally, transit facilities to third countries, not only connecting one another, but also connecting to the larger Asian neighbourhood, in the Gulf, Central Asia and the South-East Asia,’ he said, adding India, which borders each of the members of the South Asia, is willing to do so.
   Manmohan also announced an offer from India to hold a South Asian car rally in the run-up to the next summit symbolising the regional identity and drawing attention to the urgent need for improving the SAARC transport infrastructure.
   He also offered to all the SAARC nations the facility of daily air services by designated airlines on a reciprocal basis.
   The Indian premier said more liberal movement of people and goods across the borders also required greater sensitivity on the part of all member countries to pressing concerns. No member country should allow its territory to be used against the interest of another member country, he added.
   Manmohan also proposed creation of a centre of excellence in the form of a South Asian University, a Regional Food Bank to deal with food security issues, a SAARC High Economic Council, and a SAARC Museum of Textiles and Handicrafts.

The Maldives president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, has underscored the need for achieving the SAARC’s principal objective of higher levels of economic and social development in order to improve the quality of life of the peoples of the region.
   ‘As we cross another milestone in the history of our association, it is vital that we focus our energies on attaining this supreme objective. This is the only guarantee to ensure peace, stability and progress in our region,’ he said while addressing the inaugural session of the SAARC Summit.
   President Gayoom said: ‘South Asia is home to one-fifth of world’s population. Our human resources are a great blessing that should make us one of the most vibrant and dynamic regions in the world.’
   ‘For that we need to invest in education and human resource development,’ he said. ‘SAARC countries have many excellent institutions of higher learning. So, greater collaboration in this area can, therefore, release tremendous energies in taking our region forward in leaps and bounds.’
   Stressing the need for
   cooperation with the other regional and international bodies, he said: ‘International developments are increasingly impinging on our lives, as the world grows more interdependent.
   The forces of globalisation make it imperative to look for ways in which the SAARC could intensify cooperation with other regional and international organisations.’

King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal, who dissolved the country’s elected government in February, said on Saturday that he had directed the Election Commission to make necessary preparations to hold general elections by April 2007.
   Gyanendra, while speaking at the opening session of the 13th SAARC summit in Dhaka, said that Nepal would hold municipal elections in February 2006 as the security situation in the country had improved.
   ‘Believing that successful completion of municipal elections will create an environment conducive to conducting general elections, we have asked the Election Commission to make necessary preparations to hold general elections by April 2007.’
   Indicating the Maoist rebels, the King said, ‘We have also asked those who have been misguided to renounce violence and to take part in a competitive democratic political process.’
   He also defended the sacking of the country’s government. ‘The first of February step in Nepal (dissolution of the government) was necessitated by ground realities, mainly the failure of successive governments to contain the ever-emboldened terrorists and maintain law and order.’
   The King sacked the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for the second time in three years on February 1, apparently for failing to contain the Maoist insurgency which has caused the deaths of 10,000 people in the last nine years.
   Gyanendra claimed that the dissolution of the elected government was not done at the cost of democracy, ‘as some tend to project it’.
   ‘Our friends and well-wishers were warning of the danger of Nepal turning into a failed state,’ he said, reminding the international community of the pre-February first situation in Nepal.
   He claimed that the security situation was improving slowly but surely and the people, who have been benefited, now have a growing sense of confidence. ‘There is no place today in the kingdom where security personnel cannot go at will.’
   Referring to the Maoist insurgency, the king regretted the sympathetic nature of the world’s response to the insurgency, and said, ‘The global war on terrorism has failed to reach every nook and corner of the world, especially in weak and vulnerable countries, as if they do not deserve justice and protection from terrorism. It is this double standard and selective approach that is assuming a dangerous character rather than terrorism itself.’
   Gyanendra called upon the SAARC member states to forge a strong partnership to eliminate terrorism from the region as well as spearhead a coordinated and serious action against terrorists and their supporters.

The Pakistani prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said political disputes and tensions in the region as well as SAARC’s inward looking and shying away from reaching out to other regional organisations and the world were key impediments to the forum’s success.
   ‘We’ve remained embroiled with conflict management. We need to move towards conflict resolution,’ he told the SAARC Summit on Saturday.
   He suggested that the SAARC should adopt an inclusive approach and open to interaction especially with the larger Asian neighbourhoods.
   The Pakistani prime minister urged the South Asian leaders to demonstrate political will to sustain the momentum generated of late for last two years since the Islamabad summit.
   ‘We should build on areas of convergence, minimise divergences and, most of all, seek to augment complementarities for the greater good of the peoples of this region,’ he said.
   Aziz saw the summit as a ‘landmark event’ for the prospective inclusion of Afghanistan in the forum as a member and association of China as an observer or dialogue partner.
   ‘The political atmosphere between Pakistan and India has improved, and both countries are engaged in a peace process to resolve all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir,’ he said about the peace overtures between the two nuclear neighbours being pursued following the last SAARC summit.
   He expects that the success of the process—which led to occasional unlocking of the Line of Control that divides the two countries—would augur well for the region and the forum of the SAARC.
   The Pakistani prime minister expressed his satisfaction over the enhancement of the regional cooperation and SAARC profile during past two years.
   He spoke about the setting up of new markers for regional cooperation in South Asia, including SAFTA, the social charter, poverty alleviation, energy cooperation and the signing of the additional protocol to the SAARC convention on suppression of terrorism.
   He, however, stressed the need for implementation of the decisions and translating into tangible terms through prioritising, quantifying and evaluating constantly the forum activities.
   ‘We must enable the SAARC to deliver on the promise of its charter,’ he said, suggesting intensified cooperation in economy and trade, energy, environment protection and water and natural resources, poverty alleviation, infrastructure, monetary and fiscal policies and strengthening the SAARC secretariat.
   He expressed the hope that the negotiations on the outstanding issues of SAFTA would be completed in time for the deal to become operational by January 2006.
   The Pakistani leader stressed the need for greater energy cooperation in the region and mentioned that the prospective Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline would be an outstanding example of regional cooperation in the energy sector.
   He suggested the holding of summits, Ministerial and Standing Committee meetings having duration of one-day each while SAARC declarations should be well-focused and brief documents to make the organisation efficient and effective.
   The outgoing SAARC chairperson also suggested establishing closer interactions with extra-regional states and other regional organisations, particularly EU, ASEAN, OECD, ECO, the Gulf Coordination Council and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
   He expressed his firm belief that the SAARC leaders would be able to transform South Asia into an engine of economic growth for the world while preserving the region’s environment and the civilisation distinction.

The Sri Lankan president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, envisioned a united South Asia free from inter-state or intra-state conflict and guaranteeing unhindered mobility of people, investments and trade in goods and services.
   She mooted her forward-looking idea as duty calls for the leaders to change the
   destiny of South Asians in the present context, as they began here Saturday a summit meet under the regional grouping SAARC.
   ‘… I dare to envisage a South Asia where the benefits of cooperation will become so compelling and tangible that the spectre of inter-state or intra-state conflict will recede into obscurity, releasing resources and human energy for wealth creation,’ she said.
   ‘I do not want to understate SAARC achievements, nor do I want to overstate the challenges that remain,’ she said quoting public perception that the SAARC countries’ achievements appeared too small compared to their capacity.
   ‘There is a public perception that our many achievements appear small against SAARC’s enormous potential and
   that we have yet to do enough to keep pace with a rapidly
   “globalising world where the knowledge economy,
   technology and unhindered cross-pollination of human creativity have become the driving forces.’
   Pointing her finger at the potential of South Asia, Chandrika, who retires from politics after next week’s presidential elections in Colombo, said this region was endowed with the essential resources–both human and natural– to undertake the task of producing fruition of SAARC for the commoners.
   She said: ‘if we provide political leadership and chart a way forward using the complementary that are abundant in our region, we must admit that SAARC can be no more active than its members and their leaderships.’

Crisis of drinking water plagued Tengra and surrounding villages in the beginning of dry season for lack of any pragmatic steps after the Tengratila blow-outs that destroyed most drinking water sources.
   Water of most ponds and almost all the tube wells at Tengra, Azabpur, Shantipur, Khaiyajury and Girishnagar villages at Chhatak in Sunamganj became contaminated for the January 7 and June 24 blow-outs.
   The people of the villages used rainwater, and water of marshlands and unaffected ponds after boiling in the just-ended rainy season.
   But with the beginning of dry season, water level of the marshlands and unaffected ponds started falling down compelling about 10,000 villagers to depend on the River Khaimari, which is on an average 1.5 kilometres far from the villages.
   After the second blow-out, the district administration with the financial assistance of UNICEF set up three water processing plants alongside three fish farms at Tengra, Azabpur and Girishnagar.
   But the villagers are reluctant to use the water of the plants as fertiliser, cow dung and other filths mixed water of the farms are purified there, Farid Ahmed, the headmaster of Tengratila High School, said.
   Meanwhile, 50 evicted families of the villages returned to their houses before Eid-ul-Fitr, but they could not stay because of the water crisis, said the local people.
   One Abdul Karim of Azabpur said after repeated requests, Niko Resources, the gas filed operator, was taking preparation to install some shallow tube wells in the affected villages.
   But it will bring no good for the villagers as they will not be able to use water of the tube wells due to arsenic contamination and toxicity caused by the blow-outs, Karim said terming the Niko initiative ‘ridiculous’.
   ‘The water crisis in the villagers will remained unresolved if Niko does not install deep tube wells at a far off ground and supply it to the villages through pipeline,’ said Nurul Amin, joint convener of Tengratila Dabi Aday Sangram Parishad, a local organisation.
   Niko official Abu Syed told New Age that they had no plan to set up deep tube wells in the area now.
   The authorities have decided to install 50 shallow tube wells to overcome the water crisis, he added, saying that it was possible to overcome the crisis through the setting up of the shallow tube wells.

Multilateral donor agencies estimate that Pakistan needs $5.2 billion for relief operations and reconstruction works in earthquake devastated areas, a government adviser said on Friday.
   The October 8 quake killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan, most of them in Pakistani Kashmir. Hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless and, with many mountain roads blocked by landslides, aid has yet to reach many in remote areas.
   Pakistan is organising a donors’ conference on November 19, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, is due to attend.
   But for now, the United Nations says it has received funds and solid commitments worth only 15 per cent of the total $550 million it is seeking for emergency relief operations.
   Salman Shah, financial adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, said the World Bank and the Asian Development bank estimated that the country needs $3.5 billion for reconstruction of infrastructure.
   ‘We also need more than $90 million to revive livelihoods lost in the quake,’ Shah told a news conference in Islamabad. ‘These costs are in addition to the $1.6 billion the UN has estimated will need to be spent on relief efforts.’
   So far $2.4 billion has been pledged, most of it bilaterally, from around the world, but Shah said not all of these pledges have been realised into cash.
   ‘Lots of these pledges are for goods and services and logistics purposes,’ he said. ‘The relief operation is also financed by part of these pledges and commitments.’
   The ADB and World Bank assessment report on damages and needs said the loss of public and private assets was estimated at $2.3 billion. Private housing, with damages calculated at over $1 billion, suffered the most extensive damage.
   Damage and losses to the transport, education, agriculture and livestock sectors also amounted to close to $1 billion.

Senior leaders of the main opposition party, Awami League, at a meeting on Saturday blasted the government for arranging a colourful SAARC Summit when, they said, people were facing famine.
   ‘Famine in the northern region causes immense sufferings to the people who are dying for want of food, but the ruling alliance is spending crores of money,’ Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil said.
   The AL organised the rally in front of Bangabandbu Bhaban at Dhanmondi to mark the Jail Killing Day.
   Chaired by Zillur Rahman, senior presidium member of the party, the meeting was addressed, among others, by Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Motia Chowdhury, Suranjit Sengupta, and AK Azad Chowdhury.
   The Awami League leaders, however, did not attend the 13th summit of SAARC.
   Referring the decoration and lighting in the capital, Jalil said when the country was facing shortage of electricity, the government was spending money on decoration and lighting in the name of upholding the image of the country. ‘It will not uphold the image of the country rather it is shame for the country.’
   Sajeda said they would not accept such SAARC Summit that was isolated from the participation of people, and that caused sufferings to the people.

The British government operated a secret torture chamber during the second world war and the subsequent three years, reported The Guardian.
   The centre was located in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in London and over 3,000 prisoners were systematically tortured in the centre, the daily said.
   The prisoners were deprived of sleep, beaten, forced to stand still for more than 24 hours, a declassified report reveal.
   Some are also alleged to have been starved and subjected to extremes of temperature in specially built showers, while others later complained that they had been threatened with electric shock torture or menaced by interrogators brandishing red-hot pokers.
   In the centre, carefully concealed from the Red Cross, some German civilians were also tortured.
   A subsequent assessment by MI5, the Security Service, concluded that the commanding officer had been guilty of ‘clear breaches’ of the Geneva convention and that some interrogation methods ‘completely contradicted’ international law.
   On at least one occasion, an MI5 officer noted in a newly declassified report, a German prisoner was convicted of war crimes and hanged on the basis of a confession which he had signed after he was, at the
   very least, ‘worked on psychologically’.
   The official papers, discovered in the National Archives, depict the centre as a dark, brutal place which caused great unease among senior British officers.

Nepal’s Supreme Court refused Friday to block a widely-criticised law that bans radio news programmes and introduces large fines and jail terms for those who say bad things about the royal government.
   Friday’s ruling by a three-member bench headed by the chief justice, Dilip Kumar Poudel, clears the way for the government to impose the controversial law which has led to strikes and protests in the capital.
   The Supreme Court was ruling on a petition brought by nine professional organisations including the Federation of Nepalese Journalists.
   King Gyanendra seized power in February saying that politicians were incapable of stopping a Maoist insurgency which has claimed more than 12,000 lives since 1996.
   The new media law is seen by many observers as part of an attempt by the king to crack down on dissent in the Himalayan kingdom, and critics say it will impose severe restrictions on the freedom of the press.
   Kantipur Publications, Nepal’s largest private media company which filed a separate petition to the Supreme Court after police confiscated vital equipment during a raid last month, said it would now respect the law and end its news broadcasts.
   ‘We had approached the honourable Supreme Court, requesting it to direct the government not to implement the recently promulgated media ordinance which aims to prevent airing of news,’ managing director Binod Raj Gyawali said.
   ‘Since the special bench (ruling) ... we have taken the decision to suspend the Kantipur Diary (news programme) from today respecting the court’s order,’ he said.

The police arrested a local leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh from Gabtoli in Bogra early Saturday, suspecting him to be a militant.
   The police said they arrested Nazrul Islam, claimed to be secretary of Jamaat’s village Bahadurpur unit, also an employee of the Government Azizul Haque College in Bogra, following bomb blasts at Naruamala Bridge at about 1:00am.
   A patrol team of the Gabtoli police found only Nazrul on the bridge during the blasts, the police claimed.
   But Nazrul claimed that he was walking to his village home as he did not find any rickshaw after finishing his works at the college.
   He was then handed over to the detective police for interrogation.

The Rapid Action Battalion seized a revolver from a courier service parcel at Arambagh and detained three persons, including a woman, from Uttara in the city on Saturday.
   Tipped off, a RAB-2 team raided the Continental Courier Service office in the morning and seized the parcel containing a .22-calibre revolver, one walkman, five compact discs and a seal of the officer-in-charge of Kotwali police in Comilla.
   Based on the address of the parcel recipient, the team raided a house on Road 16 at Sector 13 in Uttara and arrested Maulana Abu Taher, Mahfuzul Islam and his wife Noorjahan Begum.
   The arrested were being interrogated at the battalion headquarters till Saturday night.