Bilateral ties between India and Pakistan were looking positive during the 6th Conference of the Association of Saarc Speakers and Parliamentarians on the first day of the summit.
“Both the governments are talking to each other, which proves that all wanted to come closer and have good relations,” Speaker of the India’s lower house of parliament, Meira Kumar, told reporters on Monday. Responding to another question, she expressed the hope that recent engagements would improve relations between the two neighbours.
Earlier, while speaking on “Meaningful Participatory Democracy in South Asia— Parliamentarians’ Affirmative Actions”, she said that the “cornerstone of any successful democracy lies in being able to address the challenges and issues that concern its people.”
“The Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region is facing a host of developmental challenges and only popular governance can help us overcome them ... And here our parliamentarians can take the lead in truly fostering economic and social advancement of the people,” she added.
She referred to several legislations which ensured citizens’ participation in governance and said that this process has also produced the broadest representatives’ base in the world.
“Today, we have more than three million elected representatives out of which one-third are women. Our panchayati raj institutions have also served as the primary units for implementation of many flagship developmental programs of the government,” she added.
Earlier, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza formally assumed the chairpersonship of the conference and said the association of Saarc Speakers and Parliamentarians could help make it more effective by accelerating people-to-people contacts among the member countries.
“I am pleased to note that since our last meeting in New Delhi in 2011, all our member parliaments have shown determination to benefit from the Association,” she added.
She said the charter of Saarc was guiding the governments to seek a peaceful, progressive and democratic South Asia by “promoting the welfare of the peoples in mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another’s problems”.
Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi said that the Saarc parliamentarians have the requisite powers and means to express the will of the people through lawmaking and oversight and advocacy functions.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) recalled several military interventions and said they have severely damaged democracy in the country. However, whenever democracy was restored, the parliament has carried out legislation while keeping in view aspirations and demands of the masses, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2012.
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