S. Asian leaders focus on terrorism

Opening a summit of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Bhutan, the host nation's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, said it was time for the bloc to take a long, critical look at itself. In the 25 years since it was formed to encourage development and raise the living standards of a region that is home to one-fifth of humanity, "SAARC's journey has not been one of outstanding success," Thinley said. "We are losing focus," he added, citing squabbles and tensions between the bloc's member states that had prevented implementation of its numerous, but ultimately toothless, commitments to change. "Fractious and quarrelsome neighbors do not make a prosperous community," he said.

SAARC, founded in 1985, groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Critics have blamed its failure to exploit the region's common potential on the long and bitter rivalry between its two most powerful members, India and Pakistan, which has often hijacked the bloc's agenda.

The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since the subcontinent's 1947 partition and remain at loggerheads over the region of Kashmir. They are also locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which joined SAARC in 2007.

The Indian and Pakistani prime ministers, Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani, both attended the summit, which comes at a time when their countries are, once again, barely on speaking terms.

Addressing the regional gathering, Singh acknowledged that SAARC had fallen short of its founding aspirations.

Pakistan's prime minister echoed the need for some "dispassionate reflection" on SAARC's record to date.

"For many years, real progress remained stalled, due in part to hesitancy born from historical legacies, differences and disputes," Gilani said. Highlighting the "toxic brew" of terrorist activity across the region, he said the only effective solution was to fight it "individually and collectively".

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said no country should allow its territory "to be used to shelter or train, directly or indirectly, terrorist networks." Karzai warned that the "wildfire of terrorism" needed to be extinguished at its roots, Kazinform cites Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version.