PRESIDIUM: Left to right: Professor S. D. Muni, Aitzaz Ahsan, PPP MP, Nazir Hossain, MP from Bangladesh, H. K. Dua, Editor, Tribune, S. Nazimudeen, MP from Sri Lanka, P. P. Koya, MP from India, Vinod Sharma, SAFMA India General Secretary, and Purusottam Dahal, Member of SAFMA Nepal Executive
Session-IV South Asian Parliament
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SOUTH ASIAN PARLIAMENT 76
Excerpts from Bhurban Declaration
A South Asian Parliament
S.D. Muni
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SMILING APPROVAL: Indian MP Kiran Maheshwari and Pakistani MP Abida Saif
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Time hasn’t Come
Aitzaz Ahsan
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PRESIDIUM: Left to right: Aitzaz Ahsan, MP from Pakistan, Nazir Hossain, MP from Bangladesh, H. K. Dua, S. Nazimudeen, MP from Sri Lanka, P. P. Koya, MP from India, Vinod Sharma, SAFMA India General Secretary and Purusottam Dahal, Member of Nepal Executive
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Report: Session-IV
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Rejecting Aitzaz Ahsan’s alarmist view: SAFMA Secretary General making a strong case for the parliamentarians to take the centrestage
Kiran Maheshwari, MP from India Kunwar Khalid Younas, MP from Pakistan
Shahid Siddiqui, MP from India
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NEED OF THE HOUR: South Asian Parliament: Maulana Ataur Rehman
DEMOCRACY IS A MUST: Gopal Thapaliya
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Ashwini Kumar
ADVOCATING SOCIAL JUSTICE: Ilyas Azami, MP from India
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At a dinner by Makhdoom Amin Fahim, President, PPP-Parliamentarian
Relaxing after day’s exhaustive proceedings at the dinner
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PRESIDIUM: Ejaz Haider, N. M. Ameen, Coordinator of Sri Lanka chapter, R. M. Reddy, MP from India, Ravi Raj, MP from Sri Lanka, Imtiaz Alam, SAFMA Secretary General, Shahiduzzaman, MP from Bangladesh
Session-V Cooperative Security in South Asia
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COOPERATIVE SECURITY 88
Session-V
Conflict Resolution Mechanism
Ejaz Haider
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Bangladeshi delegates
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Strong advocates of democracy in Nepal: Purusottam Dahal, Sri Ram Basnet, Nirmala Sharma, Gopal Thapaliya
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Cooperative Security
Prof. C. Raja Mohan
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C. Raja Mohan and Ejaz Haider
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R. M Reddy, Ravi Raaj, Imtiaz Alam, Shahiduzzaman, MP from Bangladesh, Kunwar Khalid Younas, MP from Pakistan
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Report: Session-V
Cooperative Security in South Asia
Pallam Raju, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, Abdul Rashid Shaheen, MPs from India
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Kazi Zafarullah from Bangladesh
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PPP MPs from Pakistan
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Making a Difference: Bangladeshi delegation
A bright view
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Presidium: (Left to right) Gopal Thapaliya, Abu Hena, Iqbal Haider, Asma Jehangir, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, Nazimuddin, Excellency Janis Bjørn Kanavin, Ambassador of Norway
Session-VI South Asian Human Rights Code
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HUMAN RIGHTS CODE 102
Excerpts from Bhurban Declaration
A Human Rights Code for South Asia
Iqbal Haider
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Asma Jehangir, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, making her presidential address
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The Human Rights Code under study
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Mr Aimaduddin, leader of the Congress party from India, making his presentation
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member states may be persuaded to agree to adopt a uniform comprehensive Human Rights Code/Convention, enforceable on all the member states of South Asia. Once SAARC Summit takes the decision in principle, it can appoint a group of eminent human rights activists to prepare a Draft Human Rights Code with the help of the UN Human Rights Charter, European Convention on Human Rights and other related treaties. 2.
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Identify the maximum Asma Jehangir: No concession for the violators of Human Rights possible International Conventions/Treaties & Human Rights/European Court of Human Rights, the African Commission Charters relating to human rights issues, of Human and People Rights, are successful illustrations of a step by step which the member states of SAARC agree to building block approach and should stimulate joint efforts in evolving a honour, abide and enforce. regional mechanism for the protection and promotion of human rights in South Asia, as well. What appears to be lacking is sincerity of purpose and Across the border cooperation is needed bona fide commitment to set up such regional mechanisms. A beginning among the SAARC countries, to prevent and should be made with certain minimum common denominators of easily eradicate human rights abuses, terrorism achievable objectives, projects and programmes. A regional common and other organised crime and undesirable mechanism for South Asian Countries must precede the establishment of practices such as slavery, trafficking of Official/Statutory Human Rights Commissions/Courts at national level in women and children, drugs, smuggling etc. all member states of SAARC. As stated above, at least three of the SAARC Extending help and assistance to the countries already have official independent autonomous national human governments of each other member states rights institutions. Other member states must establish the same without of SAARC, in their endeavour to establish further delay in accordance with the 'Paris Principles', to provide the first their own national institutions, in effective edifice for the protection and promotion of human rights in the conformity with the Paris Principles, to region. promote and protect human rights. Mutual support to strengthen the capacity of national institutions of the member states of SAARC to undertake their mandates.
(Iqbal Haider is a former Senator, Attorney General and Federal Minister for Law, Justice, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, Pakistan)
In this regard, the European Convention of
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Report: Session-V
Support for HR Code Rapporteur: Renu Mittal
Asma Jehangir: You have to have a Human Rights Court in South Asia
Sherry Rehman: Implement human rights in all countries
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CUT DEFENCE BUDGET FOR SOCIAL SECTOR: Professor Kum Kum Rai, MP from India
Avinash Rai Khanna: Indeed, human rights indivisible
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Making his point, Abdul Rashid Shaheen
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Most punctual of all
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Asma with the delegates
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Consultations at lunch
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PRESIDIUM: (Left to right) Nikhil Kumar, MP from India, I. A. Rehman, Director, Human Rights Commission of Pakisan, Reazuddin Ahmed, President of SAFMA, Excellency Ann Wilkens, Ambassador of Sweden, Abu Hena, MP from India, Gopal Thapaliya, President of SAFMA, Nepal SECRETARIAT: Aroosa Alam, K. K. Katyal, Nirmala Sharma, Ghazi Salahuddin
Session-VII Right to Know and Independence of media
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INDEPENDENCE OF MEDIA 120
Excerpts from Bhurban Declaration
The right to know in South Asia
I. A. Rehman
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Independence of Media and Free Flow of Information Imtiaz Alam
Imtiaz Alam presenting his paper on the freedom of press
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Responding to People's Right to Know
Excellency Ann Wilkens, Ambassador of Sweden Ann Wilkens, Ambassador of Sweden
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Informal Interaction
Indo-Pak delegates consider plans for second conference of parliamentarians from the two countries
Triangular consultation
Nepalese delegation briefing the MPs on the situation in Nepal
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SAFMA seniors: Agha Nasir, Ghazi Salahuddin, Hussain Naqi, Sabihuddin Ghausi, M Ziauddin, Raja Asghar
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PRESIDIUM: Kunwar Sarvraj Singh, MP from India, Sardar Shakhwat Hossain Bakul, MP from Bangladesh, Vinod Sharma, Imtiaz Alam, H. K. Dua, SECRETARIAT: Gopal Thapaliya, Reazuddin Ahmed and Zahiduzzaman Faruque
Safma's Parliamentary Forum: South Asian Parliament: Evolving South Asian Fraternity Declaration 129
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At LuncheonReception By Ch. Shujaat Hussain, President, Pakistan Muslim League
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Concluding Ceremony
SAFMA Secretary General Imtiaz Alam presenting SAFMA Conference IV booklet to President Pervez Musharraf while asking him to fulfil the promises he made in his address at the moot
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President General Pervez Musharraf
Grasping Fleeting Moments for Peace Excerpts from President General Pervez Musharraf ’s address to the concluding ceremony
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President Musharraf, along with FM Kasuri, responding to the applause
All attention to President Pervez Musharraf's speech
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A haughty laughter to a remark
A good view of the concluding ceremony
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H K Dua at the question-answer session
Kashmala Tariq, MP, PML, addressing the gathering
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Barkha Dutt: what is your Kashmir solution?
President Musharraf asking the Minister of State for Interior to implement his promise on liberal visa for journalists
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Chief Minister of the Punjab, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi with the Indian delegation on their visit to Lahore
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Making SAARC Dynamic
Excerpts from Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri’s address to the concluding session
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Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri expanding relations across the regional parties
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Snaps from a musical evening arranged by Minister of State for Culture and Youth Affairs Muhammad Ali Durrani
Bangladeshi delegation on a sightseeing tour
Exchanging pleasantries
Reporter of the conference: Geo television correspondent Asma Shirazi
Delegates with Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani
Arrival
Ambassadors of Switzerland, Canada and Norway
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Delegates
Krishna, MP. Communist Party of India (CPI): Mr. Sudhakar Reddy, MP, Mr Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta, MP.
Bangladesh
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP): Mr N.K. Premchandran, MP. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M): Mr. Nilotpal Basu, MP, Party Leader in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Hannan Mollah, MP, Chief Whip of party in Lok Sabha.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party: Abu Hena, Member of Parliament, Sardar Shakhawat Hossain Bakul, MP, Harunur Rashid, MP, Shahiduzzaman, MP, Nazir Hossain, MP Awami League: Kazi Zafar Ullah, MP, Nur-e-Alam Liton, MP, Dr. Alauddin Ahmed, MP, Mohammed Ali, MP. Jatiya Party: G.M. Quader, MP. Jamaat-e-Islami: Shah Mohammad Ruhul Quddus, MP. Independent: M. M. Shaheen, MP. SAFMA: Reazuddin Ahmed, President, SAFMA, Editor, The News Today. Zahiduzzaman Faruque, General Secretary, Shaukat Mahmood, Bazlur Rahman, Editor, Daily Shangbad, Mahbubul Alam, Editor, The Independent, Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury, Editor, Kazi Golam Mostofa, Muhammad Ashraful Alam. India Congress Party: Mr Nikhil Kumar, Member, Lok Sabha, Shri Mallipudi Mangapati Pallam Raju, Member, Lok Sabha, Mr Ashwini Kumar, Member, Rajya Sabha, Dr. Prabha Thakur, Member, Rajya Sabha, Mr Madhu Goud Yaskhi, MP, Aimaduddin Ahmed Khan, Former Rajya Sabha member. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Member, Rajya Sabha, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, MP, Mr. Uday Singh, MP, Mrs. Kiran Maheshwari, MP, Mr. Avinash Rai Khanna, MP, Dr. Satya Narain Jatiya, MP, Mr Nalin Satyakam Kohli, Convener of BJP National Media Cell. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD): Prof. Kumkum Rai, MP, Mr. Alok K Mehta, MP, Mr. Vijay
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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): Mr Iliyas Azmi, MP, Mr Mitrsen Yadav, MP. Telugu Desam Party (TDP): Mr. R. M. Reddy, MP, S.M. Laljan Basha, Member, Rajya Sabha. Lok Janshakti Party (LJP): Mr. Ram Chandra Paswan, MP Samajwadi Party (SP): Mr Shahid Sidiqui, MP, Mr Uday Pratap Singh, MP. Janata Dal-United (JD-A): Dr P.P. Koya, MP, Shri Kunwar Sarvraj Singh, MP. National Conference (NC): Mr Abdul Rashid Shaheen, MP. SAFMA Executive: Mr Krishan Kumar Katyal (K. K. Katyal), President SAFMA, Mr Vinod Kumar Sharma, General Secretary, Mr Sushant Sareen, P. L. Uniyal, Renu Mittal Editors and Senior Journalists: Zahid Ali Khan, Editor, the Siasat daily, Mr Harikishan Dua (H.K. Dua), Editor-in-Chief, the Tribune, Chandigarh, Mr Maharaj Kishan Razdan, Editor-in-chief, PTI (Press Trust of India), Mrs Neerja Choudhury, Indian Express, Mr. Pankaj Vohra, Associate Editor Hindustan Times, Rajat Sharma, Chairman India TV, Mr Siddharth Varadarajan, Deputy Editor The Hindu, Barkha Dutt, NDTV, Ashish Joshi, Aaj Kal, Ritambara Shastri, Mr Vinod Kumar Dua, Television personality, Mr. Deepak Goyal, UNI, Manoranjan Bharti, Special Correspondent, NDTV-India Experts: Prof. C. Rajamohan, Professor School of South Asian Studies, Ramaswamy R Iyer, Prof. Sukh Deo Muni (SD Muni), Professor School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Prof. Mahendra. P. Lama, Professor. Nepal Editors and SAFMA Executive: Mr Gopal Thapaliya, President, SAFMA, Nepal, Ms Nirmala Sharma, Secretary, SAFMA, Nepal, Mr Purusottam Dahal, Member of Executive, Mr T. P. Pokhrel, Sri Ram Basnet, National News Agency Pakistan Pakistan Muslim League (PML): Senator Wasim Sajjad, Leader of the House/ Senate, Mr. Nisar Memon, Senator, Dr. Rozina Tufail, MNA, Mr. Rozina Alam, Senator, Mr. Farooq Amjad Mir, MNA, Mr. Akram Zaki, Senator, Ms. Kashmala Tariq, MNA, Dr Shahzad Waseem, State Minister for Interior, Mushahid Hussain, Senator, Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister of State for Culture and Youth Affairs Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P): Ms Sherbano Sherry Rehman, MNA, Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA, Mr. Farhatullah Babar, Senator, Mr. Sajjad Hussain Bokhari, Senator, Ms Shakeela Khanum Rasheed, MNA, Ms Yasmeen Rehman, MNA.
Editor-in-Chief, Daily Mashriq, Mr. Afzal Khan, Special Correspondent, Khaleej Times and Daily Nation, Mr. Nusrat Javeed, Senior Correspondent, The News, Ms. Aroosa Alam, President SAFMA-Islamabad, Special Correspondent, Pakistan Observer, Mr. Agha Nasir, Senior Broadcaster and Director, Geo-TV, Mr. Muralidhar Reddy, Resident Correspondent, Daily the Hindu (India), Mr Sabihuddin Ghausi, Dawn, Karachi, Ghazi Salahuddin, GEO TV, Karachi, Dr Jabbar Khattak, Editor-inChief, Awami Awaz, Mr Aamer Mahmood, President, SAFMA, Karachi, Mr Mujahid Barelvi, Indus TV, Mr Wirasat Hussain Rizvi, Business Recorder, Karachi, Mr Munnoo Bhai, President, SAFMA, Punjab, Syed Mumtaz Ahmed, Vice-President, SAFMA-Pakistan, Mr Waqar Mustafa, Deputy Editor, South Asian Media Net, Hussain Naqi, Editor, Media Monitor, Mr Azhar Jaffery, Photographer, Ms Munize Jehangir, NDTV Experts: Aitzaz Ahsan, MNA PPP, Senior Parliamentarian, and Constitutional Lawyer, Mr I. A Rehman, Director HRCP, Ms Asma Jehangir, UN Rapporteur, Dr Akmal Hussain, Economist, Dr A. R. Kemal, Economist, Mr Iqbal Haider, Gen. Secretary, HRCP, Mr Shahid Hussain, Expert.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA): Maulana Fazalur Rehman, MNA, Leader of Opposition, Mr. Ataur Rahman, MNA, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, MNA, Sahibzada Abu Alkhair, MNA, Asadullah Bhutto, MMA.
Sri Lanka United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA): Mr Siripathi Suriarachchi, Deputy Minister Sports and Youth Affairs, Mr Rohana Dissanayake, Deputy Minister for Poverty Alleviation.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N): Ms. Maimoona Hashmi, MNA, Mr. Mahmoodul Hassan, MNA, Ms. Saadia Abbasi, Senator.
United National Party (UNP): Akila Kariyawasam, MP, Mr Dayantha Karunathilleke, MP, Mr MHM Haleem, MP.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM): Dr. Farooq Satar, MNA, Mr. Iqbal Ali Khan, MNA, Kanwar Khalid Younus, MNA, Mr. Haider Rizvi, MNA, Mr. Nisar Panwar, MNA, Ms. Abida Saif, Senator.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress: Mr S Nazamudeen, MP.
PPP (Patriot): Ms. Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Mohammad Faiz Tamman, MNA, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Production SAFMA and Journalists: Mr Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General, SAFMA, Mr. M. Ziauddin, President, SAFMA, Pakistan, Editor, Daily Dawn, Islamabad, Mr. Mustansar Javed, General Secretary, SAFMA, Pakistan,
Tamil National Alliance: Mr M Ravi Raj, Mr H R Mitthapala, MP. Editors: Mr Manik de Silva, Island, Mr Victor Ivan, Ravaya, Mr MPM Azhar, Navamani, Mr R Barathi, Mr Ashan Wijethunge, Mr Nimal Ekanayake, Mr Mahinda Abeysundera, Dinamina, Mr N M Ameen, SAFMA Organizer.
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