Media & reconciliation in south asia by South Asian Media Net

South Asian Free Media Conference-IV

Media and Reconciliation in South Asia Edited and Published by: South Asian Free media Association (SAFMA)

November 20-21, 2004, Lahore Pakistan

South Asian Free Media Association

& Peace Peace Not War Talks Not Violence Flexibility Not Rigidity Cooperation Not Subjugation

Development Not Militarization Equality Not Hegemony Freedoms Not Repression Simultaneity Not Selectivity Tolerance Not Impatience Appreciation Not Demonization

Rising above divides

Contents

Success of SAFMA's 4th South Asian Free Media Conference on 'Media and Reconciliation (Processes) in South Asia', at Lahore, was yet another milestone in our struggle to bring the media, governments and the people closer on the issues of peace. The event was the culminating point of our successive conferences on the themes of cooperation and inter and intrastate conflicts around the region to push our agenda of reconciliation forward by engaging media and other stakeholders.

Glimmer of Peace: M. Ziauddin Ice is Melting: Imtiaz Alam Lahore Declaration: Media and Reconciliation Processes in South Asia Pakistan Open to Journalists: President Pervez Musharraf Session-I Report: Hussain Naqi Reconciliation in the Sub-continent: Najam Sethi External and Internal Factors: C. Raja Mohan Media for Peace: Mohammad Waseem Reconciliation in South Asia: Gokul Pokhrel Session-II Report: Dileep Padgonkar Three Faces of American Journalism: Bertrand Pecquerie Post 9/11: Independence of Media: Zahid Hussain Defending the Profession: Christopher Warren Freedom of Expression: Dr. Anne-Christine Habbard Session-III Report People Need Peace: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri Media and Reconciliation in South Asia: Rita Manchanda Peace to Reduce Media Rivalry: Khalid Ahmed SAARC and Peace: Mahbubul Alam Conflict in Nepal: Yubaraj Ghimire Media and Peace in Sri Lanka: Ranga Kalansoorya Media and Reconciliation Process in Sri Lanka: Lakshman Gunasekara Dialogue, Not Bullet: Maulana Fazlur Rahman: Mushahid Hussain: Aitezaz Ahsan: Tehmina Daultana: Concluding Remarks: Reazuddin Ahmed SAFMA Memorandum of Association (Constitution) Secretary General's Report Keeping Peace Momentum: K. K. Katyal Commission for Nepal: Gopal Thapaliya

The conference assumed added significance against the backdrop of Pakistani and Indian scribes' visit to both sides of the Line of Control. This conference evaluated the ongoing or stalled reconciliation processes, role of media in promoting or obstructing dĂŠtente and reflected upon the state of freedom of expression and independence of media in the post-9/11 period. Since it was SAFMA's annual conference, organizational issues, constitutional amendments and work-plans were also deliberated upon. The conference, with unanimity, re-elected Secretary General for another term. Concerned about a less than incremental process of composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, the delegates were unanimous in their demand for making the process much more meaningful and rewarding. Resorting to old ways, rigidities and point-scoring, it was felt, could take the subcontinent back to the square one. The process needs a boost from the political leadership to unshackle bureaucratic stranglehold and get out of the box. Overwhelming view was for keeping confidence building measures (CBMs) separate from the respective contentious stands on strategic issues and sorting out ancillary issues without blowing them out of proportion. In the meanwhile, the delegates emphasized, India and Pakistan must evolve a paradigm of long-term partnership that must facilitate the resolution of perennial issues, such as the dispute over Kashmir, in a broader fraternal and regional framework. Suspension of the negotiation process between the Sri Lankan government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is alarming and it has not yet revived despite the havoc brought by tsunami. While the Ceasefire Agreement, the conference emphasized, needs to be strengthened and an interim administration ought to be created, the dialogue process must be resumed and taken to a logical conclusion. Similarly, a political settlement of the constitutional crisis and Maoist insurgency in Nepal is most urgently needed, given the fragility of the state and society. The differences between Bangladesh and India also warrant a composite process of negotiations before they become intractable. The conference provided a sense of direction and called upon the South Asian media fraternity to rise above their nationalist positions and play an active role in building bridges, narrowing differences and promoting understanding. It is hoped the governments in South Asia will allow free movement of journalists, as announced by President Pervez Musharraf, to perform a historic role in bringing the region together.

Imtiaz Alam Secretary General, SAFMA

Code Independence Not Embedded-ness Objectivity Not Propaganda Neutrality Not Partiality Authenticity Not Speculation All-sidedness Not One-sidedness Caution Not Hate Contextulization Not Stereotyping Respect Not Defamation

Glimmer of

Peace

he media have acquired a highly critical and decisive role in human development and progress of civil societies. By taking up popular and at times what appear to them the right causes, the media have served as a subliminal instrument of societal change. But they have very rarely played the role SAFMA is trying to play in decisively influencing the reconciliation process in South Asia. SAFMA Secretary-General Mr Imtiaz Alam is trying through the SAFMA movement to turn the media from being a mirror of society into a highly influential political power broker. Many of my colleagues and I still have a lot of difficulty in reconciling with the role Mr Alam is trying to define for the media in the region. Only those who have practiced the profession with some dedication over the years and tried to achieve credibility for their pens and cameras would know the challenges and difficulties that face the media in this reconciliatory role. Every story, even a simple story of a road accident, has many sides. You can have all the facts at your disposal but still come up with only a few sides of the story because of time and space constraints. And then there is a human side to it as well. A newsworthy story conforming to the professional criteria may be interesting and informative for a wide audience but could hurt and pain someone. What sounds like highly patriotic and nationalistic story or editorial in one country could sound more like tendentious propaganda by another. Or what appears in a neighbouring country a reconciliatory piece of writing or TV programme could be interpreted by the establishment in the host country as traitorous. And take for example a recent visit of 16 Pakistani and Kashmiri journalists organized by the SAFMA to the Indian-administered Kashmir. A lot of thought and organization had gone into preparing this event. Even the selection of journalists assessing their knowledge and work on the issue and their ability to articulate and present through their medium their observations during the visit to Pakistani audience was taken up with a seriousness of purpose. However, at

M. Ziauddin President, SAFMA, Pakistan the end of the day, we are still answering our friends' queries as to who did the selection, what were the criteria and who funded the visit. And then there is this observation never far from our friends' lips: SAFMA has served some clandestine purpose of one intelligence agency willingly or unknowingly or it was encouraged by another to undertake the journey. I believe in transparency and so, I would be the last person to refuse to respond to such remarks. The challenges and the difficulties facing SAFMA in its declared task are indeed many and they will continue to test the patience and the skill of the dedicated journalists from the seven SAARC countries forming the core of SAFMA. That is the downside of it all. But the upside of the story is that the regional environment today is just right for what SAFMA is trying to achieve. Like the leadership in SAARC, especially the leadership in India and Pakistan, the members of SAFMA too are reaching out to grasp the glimmer of peace.

Ice is Melting SAFMA and its 4th Conference

n behalf of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) and on my own behalf I welcome you to 4th South Asian Free Media Conference on 'Media and Reconciliation (Processes) in South Asia'. SAFMA has the honor to have President Pervez Musharraf twice as chief guest at our two South Asian Free Media conferences, including the founding conference. Personally I admire the chief guest for his leading role in the war against terrorism at the risk of his own life. Even if I would never fail to remind him how complex this fight is which requires a more comprehensive and sustained response. As SAFMA's Secretary General I appreciate his pro-active role in taking forward the peace process and the composite Imtiaz Alam dialogue with India. It requires great courage that he has undoubtedly exhibited in initiating a debate on the options on Kashmir, he and Indian Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh had agreed to explore on September 24 and to quote Mr Singh 'think out of the box'. This conference is taking place at a time when the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan is entering the second round of crucial talks, including the backdoor diplomacy on Kashmir, the efforts to sort out differences between India and Bangladesh have not made any substantive progress, the negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) have remained stalled amid an uneasy ceasefire and the crisis in Nepal continues with no signs of resumption of talks between His Majesty's government and the Maoists and the Palace and political parties to solve the constitutional crisis. Having held regional conferences on Access to and Free Flow of Information at Rawalpindi on January 3-4, 2004, Regional Conference on 'Gender and Media' at Kathmandu on June 26-27, Conference on 'Regional Cooperation in South Asia' at Dhaka on August 20-21, Regional Conference on 'Interstate Conflicts in South Asia' at New Delhi on October 9-10 and Regional Conference on 'Intrastate Conflicts in South Asia' at Colombo on November 6-7, we have come to the

culminating point of this 4th SAFMA conference on 'Media and Reconciliation (Processes) in South Asia' to push our agenda for peace and conflict resolution. The South Asian Free Media ConferenceIV on 'Media and Reconciliation (Processes) in South Asia' will focus on the ongoing reconciliation processes in the region, evaluate the role of media in this regard and also reflect upon the independence of media in the post-9/11 period, especially after the aggression and occupation of Iraq. More than 225 delegates from South Asia and representative of international media from International Federation of Journalists, World Editors Forum, Reporters San Frontiers, Aljazeera Television and International Federation of Human Rights and many observers from civil society will participate in the deliberations. The Conference will also come out with strong support for the success of composite dialogue between India and Pakistan, urgency to revive dialogue between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, initiation of a serious dialogue between Bangladesh and India and resumption of talks between the Maoists and the Nepalese government.

palpable/short-term and our bigger/long-term interests as people, civil societies and nation-states and above all this great region of ours -- South Asia. We have to draw from the immense reservoir of fraternity and shared history of our region, rather than a negative jurisprudence, and take lead from the aspirations of the people who want nothing but peace and prosperity. In the wake of globalization and information revolution, South Asia is left far behind in catching up with the strides of scientific and technological revolution. As regional groupings prepare to meet the challenges of globalization to mediate better share for their economies in the word system under WTO, a new realization is dawning on the South Asian nations to put their house in order. At the 12th SAARC Summit, as India and Pakistan agreed to resume composite dialogue on the sidelines, the member countries signed a framework agreement on creating South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), a Social Charter and endorsed the report by Independent Commission for Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA). The economic logic and the imperatives of regional development and cooperation have begun to dictate their terms to the conflict ridden South Asian nations. The ideas of South Asian community, common market, uniform tariffs, harmonious customs, compatible exchange rates, monetary union, regional energy grid, regional mechanism for water dispute management, transnational communication and physical infrastructures and South Asian parliament are now increasingly informing the policymakers and the citizenry to take a broader look at the issues facing the people. Even conflict resolution is being seen from a regional perspective. Living in cold war times, the parties to the conflict and the nation states resisted the ideas of free flow of information across frontiers and tried to obstruct an unstoppable flow of information in the age of information revolution. Restrictions on access to and free flow of information within and across borders increased misunderstandings, deepened misconceptions and accentuated differences. The governments used all tricks -very subtle and not so subtle-- to make national media subservient to the official line and those who refused to become an appendage and dissented were punished, sidelined or humiliated. Media, in most cases, became

The ice on all sides is melting, but not as swiftly as the people of South Asia wish. However, despite a slow pace of and hiccups in the reconciliation processes in South Asia, the parties to all inter- and intra-state conflicts now realise the need for a peaceful resolution through negotiations. They have learnt that conflicts bring misery to the people and devastation to the land. Given our bitter past, we have yet to learn the etiquettes of negotiations, imbibe the ethos of peace, willingness for flexibility and accommodation and far-sightedness to differentiate between the

Free and independent media, access to and free flow of information is not only a pre-requisite for growth of a dynamic civil society, socio-economic development, investment and trade, good governance, transparency, accountability and people's empowerment, but also for conflict management, conflict reduction and conflict resolution. But, unfortunately, it was not realized by most of the governments in our region and most big media houses who preferred commercial gains over public interest. The media are supposed to be a watchdog. Exposure by media-persons irked almost all governments in South Asia. Journalists remained under attack in our region and little was done to bring media laws in harmony with the demands of information revolution or in conformity with the right to know and freedom of expression. Secrecy, confidentiality and so-called state interests a hallmark of colonial rule worshiped by our bureaucracies-- continued to deny the people their fundamental right to know and, consequently, distort decisionmaking and implementation processes.

instrumental in fanning nationalisms and demonizing the other side. By selling hate material against the other side, media, consequently, became a prisoner of their own device which they misconceived as a good selling point while assuming as if the national interest were better served by vulgarizing the other side. The Anglo-American media, in the meanwhile, by having embedded to blind retaliation and aggressive militarism in the post-9/11 period set a dangerous example for those who in our part of the world have never been at ease with whatever relative independence media have mustered. Yet, it will be unfair not to acknowledge the contribution being made by an increasing number of media persons and outfits who continue to respond to the call of their profession.

Access to and the free flow of information is vital to the capacity of media and the citizenry for conflict reduction, human security, poverty alleviation and human development through participatory governance. This involves the achievement of higher levels of awareness, transparency, accountability and reduction in conflict and corruption. It is critical to the functioning of democracy, and it is an important regulatory mechanism for the economy. It enables people to protect and exercise their rights and responsibilities and to actively participate in development actions and in the processes that affect their lives. Where there are low levels of transparency, rights may be little known

and least respected. The possibility of citizen's recourse and redress are also limited due to a lack of information. Where accountability is weak, corruption flourishes. The same also holds for services. Open and accessible information on the functioning of the state, private sector and civil society is, therefore, a vital component of humane governance.

strategy: One, mobilizing national media for media rights and on regional issues. Two, building a broad-based coalition of mainstream media across all ideological schools to take up issues of free flow of information and free movement of journalists across frontiers and building public opinion to resolve inter and intra state conflicts through peaceful means. Three, creating mainstream coalitions of experts, policymakers, parliamentarians and important stakeholders to build bridges of understanding and facilitating reconciliation and regional cooperation.

Information, in general, and the media, in particular, can also be decisive by tipping the social and political balance on issues of In just four years, despite many hurdles and difficulties, SAFMA has emerged as the war and peace, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and mainstream media body in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and to an extent in Sri Lanka reconciliation in pre-conflict, conflict and and has been recognized by SAARC Secretariat as an post-conflict situations. It is the nerve SAFMA has proved that media can tilt Associated Body. On freedom of media, it has critically system of governance. The degree of the scales from confrontation to reconciliation. evaluated the media laws and impediments to press freedom access and free flow of information is one in five countries and has proposed amendments to all those SAFMA stood against a of the defining elements of the political provisions that hinder the growth of an independent press. A system. In autocratic regimes information potentially most dangerous war and took out a model law (Protocol) on Freedom of Information has also is restricted on the basis of the “need to joint peace procession in Kathmandu. been proposed for adoption by the respective legislatures in know” and “information is power” based SAFMA-sponsored Pakistan-India the SAARC Countries. On free movement of journalists and on exclusion -- power for the few. In media products across the South Asian region, SAFMA's Parliamentary Conference at Islamabad democratic regimes with humane protocol to SAARC has so far not been placed on the agenda governance there is the “right to helped build consensus on the of the Standing Committee or Council of Ministers or the information” and “information is necessity to take confidence building SAARC Summit. However, we have again moved Pakistan's empowerment” based on inclusion - measures across all party divides Foreign Office for its adoption by the 13th SAARC Summit. power for the many. in the subcontinent. Due to our extensive lobbying, most foreign ministries in the On this occasion President Against this background, SAFMA was region have in principle supported our Protocol on formed at First South Asian Free Media Pervez Musharraf liberalization of visa regime for the journalists and foreign Conference: Towards Free and Vibrant offered a ceasefire on and across the LoC ministers of India and Pakistan have promised to associate Media' at Islamabad on July 2, 2000, SAFMA as an Apex Regional Body with SAARC. In the sponsored by English-language daily The while proposing to withdraw troops from meanwhile, India has announced liberalization of visa News and the Paragon Governance international borders in a day. regime for 12 cities multiple-entry, non-police reporting visa Program of the UNDP. It set two major This conference while dispensing with the tedious procedure of security o b j e c t i v e s : F i r s t , f r e e d o m a n d encouraged the two governments to take CBMs clearance for the Pakistani journalists. Pakistan has independence of media, right to know, welcomed the decision, but has so far not reciprocated the freedom of expression, access to and free that have been followed by the composite step. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh have most restrictive flow of information within and across the dialogue. visa regime in the region, whereas Nepal, Sri Lanka and South Asian region. Second, engaging Maldives have most open entry points. South Asia cannot mainstream media to promote conflict have any meaningful cooperation without overcoming reduction and resolution, confidence information deficit which is possible only through building, regional cooperation and involving major liberalization of visa regime for journalists and removal of tariff- and non-tariff barriers to stakeholders in the public domain to promote peace in the free flow of media products. region. Learning from the limitations of the peace movement, Track-II diplomacy and a lack of effectiveness of the NGOs in the While evolving a community of South Asian journalists, SAFMA has also introduced joint filed, SAFMA decided to take the course of remaining in the media productions to benefit the community, the intelligentsia and the people. It produces mainstream and involving all those media practitioners who are a South Asian Journal that has become a leading platform for exchange of ideas by leading for press freedom, access to and free flow of information and experts, editors and academicians on major issues faced by the countries of and the region. conflict resolution through dialogue. It pursued a three-pronged Similarly, South Asian Media Net, a daily news and views website, has become one of the

main sources of information on the countries of South Asia. Recording attacks on the press in our region, we produce an Annual Media Monitor on South Asia. We also plan to produce documentaries to promote our cause. Most importantly, SAFMA with the support of media community and the academia in the region is planning to built first South Asian Media Development Centre and Multi-Media University in Lahore for which the Chief Minister of the Punjab has promised a piece of land and certain donors through UNDP, Pakistan, have shown great interest to help build this facility and our dear friend Onder Yucer, Resident

Representative of UNDP, is convening the meeting of the prospective donors to help build this media campus to be run by South Asian faculty for South Asian students for graduate and post graduate courses and also a diploma program for on-job training for working journalists from across the region. SAFMA has proved that media can tilt the scales from confrontation to reconciliation. When the largest number of troops after the World War-II was deployed on India-Pakistan borders, we from SAFMA stood against a potentially most dangerous war and took out a joint peace

Excellency President Pervez Musharraf, we thank you for your encouragement and look forward to your support in the following ways: 1. Reciprocate India's good initial step, although we wanted whole country multiple entry visa, to liberalize visa regime for Pakistani journalists with more consistent measure. 2. Support adoption of SAFMA's Protocol on Free Movement of Media-persons and Media-products Across the South Asian Region by the 13th SAARC Summit. We want inclusion of one paragraph in the Declaration of next SAARC Summit: The Paragraph is as follow: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Realizing the need to respond to the imperatives of information revolution; Recognizing the urgency to overcome information deficit among the member countries about each other and; Appreciating the initiative taken by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) to promote understanding, access to and free flow of information across the region: We the heads of government and state of SAARC agree that: a) Leading media-practitioners, with 15 years of experience, to start with, shall be allowed free movement across our frontiers to perform their professional duties without a visa, as being practiced by certain other categories of our citizens; and a liberalized, countrywide, multiple-entry five year visa regime, without police reporting and bureaucratic delays, shall be instituted for mediapersons, with three years of experience with a credible news organization and accreditation; b) Media products, whether print

procession in Kathmandu two days before the 11th SAARC Summit. This was SAFMA-sponsored Pakistan-India Parliamentary Conference held on August 10-11, 2003, at Islamabad that helped build consensus on the necessity to take confidence building measures across all party divides in the subcontinent. On this occasion President Pervez Musharraf offered a ceasefire on and across the LoC while proposing to withdraw troops from international borders in a day. This conference encouraged the two governments to take CBMs that have been followed by the composite dialogue. And quite recently, SAFMA organized a first exchange of

or electronic, shall be allowed free flow across our borders under a zero-duty regime and without restrictions with an objective to promote free flow of information, harmony and better understanding among the member countries; c) Facilitate by all possible means the citizens right to know and access to and free flow of information; d) Form a Special Committee on Media consisting of foreign/external, information and interior/home secretaries of the member countries, that shall, in consultation with media bodies, especially SAFMA, find a suitable mechanism to facilitate free movement of media practitioners and media products across frontiers by developing a consensus on a Protocol; e) Will review the implementation of these guidelines on this issue at our 14th SAARC Summit.â&#x20AC;?

Lahore Declaration Media and Reconciliation Processes

he media persons from the South Asian region met in Lahore, Pakistan, on November 20-21, 2004, at South Asian Free Media Association's 4th South Asian Free Media Conference on 'Media and Reconciliation Processes in South Asia'. After having exhaustively analyzing the state of negotiation processes between India and Pakistan, New Delhi and Dhaka, Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) and the crisis in Nepal while critically evaluating the role of media on these processes in each member country of SAARC and

reflecting upon the independence of media in the post-9/11 situation and the bloodshed in Iraq arrived at the following broader understanding: a. Reiterating our commitment to peaceful resolution of all inter- and intra-state conflicts in South Asia through sustained and productive dialogue while rejecting the use of force, both by state and non-state actors, and coercive or sham diplomacy to solve differences and disputes as enshrined in SAFMA's Kathmandu Declaration on 'Media and Peace', New Delhi Declaration on

in South Asia

'Interstate Conflicts in South Asia' and Colombo Declaration on 'Intrastate Conflicts in South Asia'; b. Recalling our resolve to rise above the national, ethnic, religious and ideological divides while performing our professional duties as reporters, opinion makers, producers and compares without indulging in acrimony, falsification, demonisation, jingoism or embedding

3. Appoint a committee, consisting of representatives of media bodies, to review the media laws and to incorporate necessary amendments to ensure right to know, freedom of expression and a free press. 4. Benefiting from the presence of the Chief Minister of the Punjab, Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi, we may request him to waive the market price for the piece of land the Board of Revenue has identified and lease this piece to Free Media Foundation (the legal entity dedicated to SAFMA Central Secretariat) for 99 years since it is a non-commercial educational project. This will pave the way for us to mobilize necessary funds to build and run this first of its kind South Asian Media University in our region.

with respective officialdoms; c. Restating our adherence to the roadmap and Guidelines adopted by SAFMA's conference at Dhaka on 'Regional Cooperation in South Asia' that show the path to all-sided regional cooperation in the best interests of all countries of the region; d. Appreciating joint statements of January 6th and September 24th issued by Pakistan and India initiating composite dialogue, stopping crossborder infiltration and repression, exploring all possible options on Kashmir to find a solution to the satisfaction of peoples of Jammu and Kashmir and India and Pakistan and, simultaneously, normalizing relations, taking confidence-building measures in all spheres and expanding areas of bilateral cooperation; e. Considering that the slow pace of negotiations between India and Pakistan, suspension of ongoing negotiation process between Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, failure to initiate reconciliation, in Nepal, and inability of New Deli and Dhaka to put together a comprehensive negotiation framework to iron out differences and find mutually beneficial solutions to the disputes is causing anxiety among the people; f. Taking note of a set of options proposed to open a debate on the Kashmir imbroglio by President Pervez Musharraf, reduction in troops deployed in J&K announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and confidence building measurers being proposed by the two governments regarding Kashmir, including proposed bus services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, Jammu and Sialkot; g. Concerned about the deadlock over resumption of dialogue between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE; h. Cognizant of serious differences between Bangladesh and India over cross-border infiltrations, re-demarcation of certain points of border, including numerous enclaves, redistribution of water and issues of trade, etc; i. Worried about the continuing political and constitutional crisis in Nepal, Maoist insurgency, delay in resumption of dialogue between the Maoists and the government and the Palace and the political parties; j. Taking a serious exception to the pretext of using inter and intra sate conflicts or war against terrorism to clip civil liberties, introduce draconian laws, suppression of the democratic aspirations of the people, violence against the civilian population, especially women and children, who often become a victim in the crossfire of parties to the conflict; k. Appreciating the voices of sanity for peaceful resolution of conflicts from the civil societies and the media while expressing disappointment over those sections of media still embedded to the socalled 'national consensus' or respective establishments;

l. Welcoming the visit of Pakistani journalists across the Line of Control and return visit by the journalists to this side of LoC that have set a good precedence to open all 'no-go areas' to journalists; m. Encouraged by the decision of the last SAARC Council of Ministers' meeting to associate SAFMA as an Associate Body of SAARC and an assurances given by New Delhi and Islamabad regarding liberalization of visa regime for the journalists across South Asia, and announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs of India to relatively relax visa for the Pakistani journalists with the hope that the announcement made by President Pervez Musharraf at this conference allowing multiple-entry visa valid for the whole country to the journalists from the countries of South Asia will be implemented; The Conference resolves that: 1. The peoples of South Asia have suffered too much and for too long due to inter- and intra-state conflicts. Some disputes are perennial that sustain hostility and proliferate ancillary disputes to further complicate the prospects for regional peace and postpone the agenda of regional cooperation and economic integration as envisaged by SAARC; 2. Rejecting all violent means by any party to resolve inter and intra state conflicts, this conference endorses peaceful approaches to resolving all disputes and differences through meaningful, sustainable and productive negotiations; 3. In pre-conflict, conflict and post-conflict situations, there is always a need to manage and defuse the conflicts and take confidence building measures that are crucial to creating an enabling environment for the resolution of core disputes and addressing real causes behind the conflicts; 4. Looking beyond the traditional notions of security and focusing on cooperative security, the South Asian nations must act in their self-

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and Taslima Miji

enlightened interest to ensure security within their states and beyond their borders at the regional level while avoiding to exploit an intrastate conflict in any manner; The choice is not between conflict resolution and regional cooperation: the only way out is to simultaneously move forward in finding solutions to the political disputes and expanding all avenues of economic and cultural cooperation, both at the bilateral and regional levels, while allowing greater interaction among the people, especially free movement of journalists and media-products across borders as proposed by the SAFMA Protocol; All reconciliation processes and negotiations have to be even-handed, attuned to the priorities of the parties to the conflict, balanced, productive and mutually beneficial, and need to be framed and phased in a manner that the interlocutors continue to benefit from the process and are able to move forward; As nuclear powers, putting at risk the entire region, India and Pakistan must respect the desire for peace of their peoples and not let them down by slipping back into their old official postures; it would require approaching the outstanding issues with flexibility of approach and innovation, especially with regard to Jammu and Kashmir; the ancillary disputes should be quickly resolved to create an environment favorable to the resolution of perennial dispute; As Indo-Pak composite dialogue enters its second phase, it is essential to remind the interlocutors to avoid beating about the same bush and outlive the habit of perpetuating stalemate and the belligerent tendency of not making any concession or compromise, and the need to be more flexible, creative, adjustable and pragmatic in a spirit of give and take. The New Delhi conference had resolved that the confidence building measures should be taken while simultaneously examining various proposals regarding the Jammu and Kashmir issue with a sincerity of purpose. There was a consensus that Kashmiri interests and aspirations needed to be addressed by the governments; the representatives of Kashmiris from both parts should be consulted so that a viable solution from which all parties felt they had gained could emerge; A new regional understanding of the riparian issues is essential to resolve Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Pak water disputes since Regional Riparian statutes are obligatory under RRR statute model respecting Helsinki Convention that envisages 8K upstream and downstream rights; Recent cooling of Indo-Bangladesh relations is a mater of concern; New Delhi's complaints of Dhaka's alleged 'help' to militants from India's North-east and Bangladesh's concern over India's 'refusal' to correct the

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trade imbalance and differences over the river-linking project by India seem to have strained their relations; while India should do more to remove tariff barriers on exports from Bangladesh and take Dhaka into confidence over the river-linking project, both the countries must take each other's security concerns more seriously and prevent cross-border hostilities; The political conflict in Sri Lanka, that has assumed an ethnic form due to the marginalization and exclusion of ethnic minorities, cannot be resolved with a mindset of an already defined majoritarian-hegemonic state, nor can a distinct Tamil political identity in north-eastern region be recognized, without ensuring equality to other ethnic and religious minorities, territorial integrity of the state and stopping human rights violation from all sides and guaranteeing the rights of minorities. In the interim, the Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 need to be strengthened and the urgent needs of the people of the war zone, including the rights of the minorities, necessitate the establishment of an interim administration structure without further delay; Reviewing Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950 and the Letters exchanged in 1950 and 1965, there is a need to effectively regulate Nepal-India border to stop cross-border activities that are detrimental to peace and security of the two counties. The Maoist conflict cannot be solved militarily and, therefore, calls for a negotiated settlement that can happen only if the constitutional forces reach an agreement to bring the constitutional process back on the rail and the Maoists are brought on board to settle the conflict on a democratic basis. There is an urgent need to stop violence and violations of human rights by the security forces and the Maoists. The states of South Asia have to collectively face up to the challenges such as low river-water discharges and global trade disparities in order to prevent the birth of a new inward-looking era in which each sate fends for itself in the face of essentially collective problems. Call upon all the governments and the parties to the conflicts, be they inter or intra state, to respect internationally recognized fundamental human rights and democratic aspirations of the people; Appeal to the South Asian media fraternity to join hands in reinforcing the values of independence, sanity, sobriety, objectivity and neutrality of their profession to strengthen the reconciliation processes in South Asia, encouraging open debate and dialogue to create room for flexibility and compromise, rather than becoming instrumental in the hands of officialdoms or a prisoner of respective rigid national standpoints.

disputed former princely state is an integral part of the Indian union] -- never unilaterally. And last, we have the courage to go for a solution. On both sides we need courage to go for a solution. Pakistan wants to carry forward the peace process constructively but I am sorry to say that the other side is doing nothing for this. India should show courage to find a solution acceptable to all parties to the festering dispute over the Himalayan region. Indian leaders say Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, that a solution to the dispute has to be found within the Indian constitution, that there will be no redrawing of borders, and that New Delhi is prepared to listen if Pakistan proposals are given formally. I hope my feeling of discouraging signals from India is only a suspicion. I can still see light at the end of the tunnel. I am not pessimistic about the ongoing peace process in South Asia.

I have asked this question from dozens of... Kashmiris, Indians and Pakistanis - everyone from all walks of life - (but) I have not got an answer ever. Therefore, I thought I must give a direction towards a discussion so that people... at least know the nuances of the ground realities and they are able to discuss options. I differ with people who think there are no options acceptable to all the three parties. I know there are options which can acceptable to all three. The other reason for the proposal was that leadership in Pakistan and India could have a feel of people's views before discussing or agreeing on any options and avoid the possibility of any agreement being shot down by parliaments. Shouldn't the people or the assemblies or the politicians, or Kashmiris, everyone discusses options so that we can get a feel... of what people in India, Pakistan and Kashmiris want and then we reach an option? Now every country has its own environment. I think it was essential to throw it open, to the media, to everyone, to debate it, let me get a feel what do you want, what do you want me to say,

how do you want me to go about the dialogue on options. I thought that is the way. It is a misconception that I have proposed any solution to the Kashmir dispute. I have only identified geographic, ethnic and religious realities of Kashmir. That is all that I have done. This was a key statement that could lead to a discussion that called for identifying seven regions in Kashmir for possible demilitarization and change of status. I have set a direction to discuss options. I have never said that a whole area should be demilitarized. Once we identify a region, part or whole, that region should be demilitarized. That will give comfort to the people of Kashmir and then change (its) status. It is a misconception that Pakistan has given up its stated position on Kashmir. No we have not. There is a fine difference. I have been saying we must go beyond stated positions, we must show flexibility, but this is not unilateral. Pakistan has not left its position for a plebiscite under the UN resolutions. But if bilaterally India and Pakistan both want to move off (from stated positions), we will show flexibility and we may also have to meet somewhere halfway if we want to resolve disputes. Both India and Pakistan need to step back from their maximalist positions. If we are not prepared to step back it cannot be done unilaterally and Pakistan will never do unilateral

It's not a one-way traffic...it's not a song that one sings and others listen. When we talk we expect answers, and we expect to move forward. There is no use of us talking and others listening.

Pakistan open to journalists President Pervez Musharraf opened South Asian Free Media Conference-IV organized by the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) and delivered an extempore speech. Following are the excerpts: We would like to meet India halfway. We will not move all the way. Halfway journey is from India. We want to discuss ... with sincerity to resolve disputes with flexibility and an open mind. We will leave our position [demand for holding a UN-mandated plebiscite in Kashmir] when India leaves its position [that the

The courage to confront and fight is far easier than the courage to reconcile and accept and it needs real courage to extend a hand that resolves disputes. My proposal for a debate on various options for a solution to the Kashmir dispute than the plebiscite did not amount to giving up Pakistan's stand that Kashmiris must decide through the UN-mandated plebiscite whether to join Pakistan or India. I had two reasons to make the suggestion at an Iftar party during the holy month of Ramadan. One reason was that I had not been able to get an answer to the queries for options for a solution acceptable to Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri people. President elaborating his view on Indo-Pak relations and his much talked about outlines on Kashmir

The core dispute is Kashmir because we fought three wars (there) and we have been killing each other on the Line of Control every day. I am not a unifocal man as alleged. We want to resolve each and every dispute with India. We are talking of Baghliar dam, we would like to involve ourselves in the Sir Creek (dispute)... but the core remains Kashmir. We have to move this process forward but lately you may have seen that vibes since then coming across to us are not encouraging. I don't believe in mincing words, I don't believe in diplomacy here, the vibes are not encouraging. I firmly believe in liberalization, freedom of speech and freedom of access to information and places. All journalists belonging to Safma could visit any place in Pakistan as well as in Azad Kashmir. We don't have anything to hide. I would like to open up Pakistan border for journalists from South Asia.... From now on you can move anywhere you want. stepping back. Let that be very, very clear. We stand at the original position. We will wait and see bilateral shifting. I could never imagine reaching a solution without the involvement of Kashmiris. Let that be very clear. Sooner or later we have to take Kashmiris along, whether immediately or a little later - earlier the better. That is our stand, because I can't imagine a solution to Kashmir problem without the people themselves involved. Kashmiris have to be involved, I don't know when. Let me tell Kashmiris sitting here: we are for (your) involvement and we cannot reach a solution over your heads. Violence in Kashmir could end with a solution of the dispute. Islamabad is trying to move forward on two tracks - the confidence-building measures (CBMs) and the dialogue process. Pakistan favours the start of bus services across the Line of Control as one of the CBMs with a proviso that the travel should not be on country passports of Pakistan or India because Kashmir was a disputed territory. We are moving forward on other possible travel documents. We are for opening of bus routes not only one, but may be two or three. But the CBMs and the dialogue process must move in tandem. One cannot be galloping and the other moving at snail's pace. That cannot be done. We cannot have confidence within ourselves unless we resolve disputes, which is unnatural, not doable. Therefore we have to move the CBMs and the dialogue process in tandem. When we talk of dialogue, it is on all issues or the conflicts - all disputes between India and Pakistan must be resolved.

I really welcome the first visit by Pakistani journalists to the Indian-held Kashmir last month. We would certainly welcome any media persons from South Asia and especially from India to go to any part of Pakistan, including Kashmir. South Asian cannot be divorced from the world that was in turmoil because of disputes, extremism, terrorism, bomb blasts. But the unfortunate irony is that all these conflicts involving Muslim countries have acquired a religious overtone despite being political in nature. Pakistan is concerned with all these troubles, particularly those in Kashmir and Afghanistan and its involvement in finding a solution. All this, whatever is happening in the world and in our region, has a direct fallout on Pakistan's domestic environment. While other regions of Asia benefited from economic

cooperation, South Asia lacked such cooperation mainly because of India-Pakistan conflict. My deduction is that we must reconcile. There has to be reconciliation of conflict between India and Pakistan, and then there will be intraregional cooperation within South Asia and then only there will be inter-regional cooperation and South Asia will come into the loop of economic, commercial, trade ties in Asia. When we talk of intra-regional cooperation, we talk of preferential trade agreements, free trade agreements, mostfavoured nation treatment. Pakistan is very much into this...But I would like to sound a word of caution: these are good words but we create barriers through tariff structures when MFN ... become meaningless. So therefore, when we talk of all these, we need to be genuine and sincere in opening borders and not creating barriers through tariff. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) should be made more potent by changing its charter so it could help resolve bilateral disputes between its seven member countries. I would like to say in this context that Saarc has a role to play, has a key role to play. This is our organization, we must make it potent and we must make it more proactive to the extent... of conflict resolutions. My concept of enlightened moderation has caught on and I think that is the way forward for the world and for the Muslim world.

favoured nation treatment. Pakistan is very much into this...But I would like to sound a word of caution: these are good words but we create barriers through tariff structures when MFN ... become meaningless. So therefore, when we talk of all these, we need to be genuine and sincere in opening borders and not creating barriers through tariff. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) should be made more potent by changing its charter so it could help resolve bilateral disputes between its seven member countries. I would like to say in this context that Saarc has a role to play, has a key role to play. This is our organization, we must make it potent and we must make it more proactive to the extent... of conflict resolutions. My concept of enlightened moderation has caught on and I think that is the way forward for the world and for the Muslim world. It's a two-pronged strategy: one of the prongs to be delivered by the Muslim world rejecting extremism and militancy, going on the path of socio-economic development. But most important part is the second parts to be delivered by the West, particularly, by the United States, to resolve political disputes and help us in our socio-economic development. Success of this operation is in both prongs succeeding. If one of the prongs fails, the operation will never succeed. Pakistan is moving on a dual track - political and military - in the fight against foreign militants hiding in the tribal area near the Afghan border. On behalf of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi I announce that land in the outskirts of Lahore will be given to SAFMA free of cost to set up South Asia Media Development Center and Multimedia University.

It's a two-pronged strategy: one of the prongs to be delivered by the Muslim world rejecting extremism and militancy, going on the path of socio-economic development. But most important part is the second parts to be delivered by the West, particularly, by the United States, to resolve political disputes and help us in our socio-economic development. Success of this operation is in both prongs succeeding. If one of the prongs fails, the operation will never succeed. Pakistan is moving on a dual track - political and military - in the fight against foreign militants hiding in the tribal area near the Afghan border. On behalf of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi I announce that land in the outskirts of Lahore will be given to SAFMA free of cost to set up South Asia Media Development Center and Multimedia University. trade agreements, most-

SESSION I

Reconciliation South Asia

at the problems the minorities face. The governments say one thing one day and another the other day. The other party continues to pull the rug. Ruling party proposals in Sri Lanka were scuttled down by the president, in minority then. The people are for peace but the leaders have failed to resolve the issues. Mr. Iqbal Sobhan Chaudhry said it took long to reconcile but reconciliation always paved the way for peace. He said that the five smaller countries of the SAARC could also spoil the peace effort. He pleaded for opening up minds and giving up nationalist jingoism. In his country, Bangladesh, he pointed to the need for understanding and tolerance in the national polity.

Hussain Naqi Chair: SAFMA India chapter President Mr KK Katyal Keynote Address: Mr Najm Sethi, Editor of Daily Times and Friday Times, Pakistan Discussants: Dr C. Raja Mohan, India, Mr K Malanandan, Sri Lanka, Mr Iqbal Sobhan Chaudhry, Bangladesh, Dr Mohammad Waseem, Pakistan, and Mr Gokul Pokhrel, Nepal. Ms. Bandana Rana, Nepal was the Moderator and Rapporteur for the session. Initiating the discussion, Dr C Raja Mohan observed that there would be ups and downs in the peace process which had moved forward since Musharraf-Manmohan meeting in New York. He said that the post 9/11 external factor was instrumental in decrying the use of violence as an instrument of foreign policy. No major power wanted continuation of conflict in the subcontinent. Globalization is also demanding reintegration of markets and there is an enormous public enthusiasm in the subcontinent for peace. People lay emphasis on good governance and rapid economic growth for which communal and religious hatred are considered irrelevant. The emerging assertion of trans-boundary communities for bringing South Asian states together is also making its contribution. Dr Mohan said that any India-Pakistan settlement, embedded in larger integration of South Asia, on Jammu and Kashmir would be enduring. The media, he said, must play contributory role as there is space today to stay ahead of the curve to make the future different from the past. Mr. K. Milanandam said the minorities in South Asia, as Tamils in Sri Lanka, felt subjugated. The majoritarian states fail to look

Dr Mohammad Waseem of Pakistan said that the third generation in Pakistan found some relevance in South Asia discourse dynamics. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As Pakistan is moving away from Central Asia and the Middle East, there is a talk of peace and civil society is much ahead of the government. De-demonisation is at work now. There is an intellectual networking and a process, such as initiated by SAFMA, is now in place. Nepal's Mr Gokul Pokhrel said President Pervez Musharraf had triggered a lot of discussion

with his observations on Kashmir. He said that conflict between India and Pakistan, both having nuclear capability, threatened peace and stability in the whole region. Referring to Nepal being embroiled in refugee problem and insurgency, he stressed the need for reconciliation. He emphasized the need for India-Nepal cooperation particularly vis-a-vis refugee problem as in matters of foreign affairs Bhutan was bound to consult India. He asked the media to abide by its pristine values in evaluating the problems. With the discussants having concluded their observations, the topic was thrown open to the House for discussion. Mr Riaz Punjabi, an Indian academician, observed that new formulations about South Asian reconciliation are coming forth from people with different viewpoints. Mr. Nururl Huda from Bangladesh desired that the reconciliation formula be devised by SAARC. Senator Shafqat Mahmood from Pakistan noted the impatience on the part of General Musharraf for the resolution of Kashmir issue and asked if there would be any movement forward by India.

Mr Riaz Punjabi, an Indian academician, observed that new formulations about South Asian reconciliation are coming forth from people with different viewpoints. Mr. Nururl Huda from Bangladesh desired that the reconciliation formula be devised by SAARC. Senator Shafqat Mahmood from Pakistan noted the impatience on the part of General Musharraf for the resolution of Kashmir issue and asked if there would be any movement forward by India. Secretary General of SAFMA Mr Imtiaz Alam said the situation would not unfreeze in a short time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The position of academia on the issue is behind that of the establishment. The process will continue. Borders will not be redrawn but these can be softened to meet the people's aspirations. Demilitarisation may move on and strengthen political process in Kashmir. Answering different queries Dr Raja Mohan agreed that small countries could create big problems. There was some danger in imposing unnecessary clarity. With reference to President Pervez Musharraf's observations at the opening session, Dr. Mohan said he restored some of the ambiguity. He considered Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's vist to India as a move forward. Mr Najam Sethi answering the queries observed that there would be a lot of hiccups in the dialogue process and noted that the processes were not linear.

Secretary General of SAFMA Mr Imtiaz Alam said the situation would not unfreeze in a short time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The position of academia on the issue is behind that of the establishment. The process will continue. Borders will not be redrawn but these can be softened to meet the people's aspirations. Demilitarisation may move on and strengthen political process in Kashmir. Answering different queries Dr Raja Mohan agreed that small countries could create big problems. There was some danger in imposing unnecessary clarity. With reference to President Pervez Musharraf's observations at the opening session, Dr. Mohan said he restored some of the ambiguity. He considered Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's vist to India as a move forward. Mr Najam Sethi answering the queries observed that there would be a lot of hiccups in the dialogue process and noted that the processes were not linear. With the discussants having concluded their observations, the topic was thrown open to the House for discussion.

in the sub-continent

he reconciliation process in South Asia is characterised by many features which impinge on its success and failure. First, we must recognise that India is placed squarely at the centre of the region both physically and politically by virtue of its geography and size and strength. Thus what happens inside India, how it articulates its ambitions and what role it perceives for itself, in and out of the region, have a tremendous bearing on all the countries of the region. Second, the states of South Asia have generally taken a long time to try and overcome

historical tensions and distrust. This is in contrast to the states of South East Asia where conflict resolution has been steady and concrete. The contrast is demonstrated by the relative success of ASEAN and the relative failure of SAARC. Third, dispute resolution in the larger Asian region has preceded mutually beneficial trade blocs and not the other way round. Thus Indian attempts to get SAARC off the ground without a resolution of contentious disputes with neighbours have failed to yield fruit. This has compelled a focus on bilateral trade agreements between India and Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh, India and Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh and Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The remarkable thing about these bilateral trade agreements is that they are now poised to actually hinder the assimilative processes unfurled by SAARC in recent years. In each country case, a resolution of political tension based on conflict resolution paved the way for preferential trade agreements and not the other way round. For example, India and Sri Lanka's preferential trade agreement followed an Indian disavowal of interference in Sri Lanka's internal affairs after the withdrawal of Indian forces from the island in the 1990s. Similarly, India's trade agreement with Bangladesh followed a partial settlement of its water disputes with the country in 1996. The same may be said of Pakistan. Its trade relaxation with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are of recent standing following a normalisation of India's relations with Sri Lanka and Pakistan's with Bangla Desh. Fourth, the negative fallout of simmering disputes has both shaped the internal politics of the countries as well as been shaped by it. This is especially true of the India-Pakistan relationship. Until recent times, both countries were explicit prisoners of the “unfinished business of partition”. This was exemplified by Pakistan's demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir coupled with the fear that India's dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971 was not the first or last stone to be cast at its territorial integrity. This led to the creation of a “national security state” in Pakistan whose praetorian ambitions and Islamic motivation have thwarted the impulse of civil society and democracy. In India, the response to this civilisational threat from Pakistan and Afghanistan has been articulated through the anti-secular Hindu movement led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the case of India-Bangladesh relations, this is manifested in the splitting of the mainstream two party system in Bangladesh into pro-India and anti-India sentiment and political parties. Equally, Bangladesh nationalism has become bifurcated between the anti-Pakistan and pro-India “painful birth”

syndrome and the anti-Hindu India and pro-Pakistan Islamic state reality. Fifth, the disputes have seemingly increased with the core country in South Asia instead of diminishing over time. This is true of India's disputes with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In 1947, there was only the Kashmir dispute. Now there are at least eight issues of dispute between India and Pakistan, most of which have developed in the last three decades. Similarly, Bangladesh's border enclave problems with India at the time of its birth in 1972 were exacerbated by immigrant, trade and water issues in subsequent decades. Fifth, the failure of the peripheral states to settle disputes with the core country India or the other way round has weakened these states and made them unstable. But the blowback has hurt India's bid for great power status and compelled it to reconsider the costs of war and appreciate the dividends of peace. The civil war in Sri Lanka, the bitter two-party system in Bangladesh, the supremacy of the armed forces in Pakistan, the anti-secular sentiments in the subcontinent - all are owed to the inability of India and the peripheral states to resolve disputes. In each case, however, the dispute is with India and not between any of the other states. India and Pakistan: Problems and prospects Pakistan and India are embarked on a peace process following the January 6 Islamabad Statement that forms the basis of the framework in which talks have to be conducted between them on various issues. The most significant aspect of the declaration was that it satisfied two major demands on both sides. India accepted that Pakistan is a party to the dispute on Kashmir and it would not flinch from talking to Islamabad on Kashmir; Pakistan conceded that it would talk to India on all issues and would not hold the process of normalisation hostage to a Kashmir-first approach.

understanding the sensitivities on both sides and meeting them. But has there been any substantive improvement on the issues that have bedevilled relations between the two? As usual there are two views on that. The pessimists would tell us - and in the past they have generally been right - that the ride has been bumpy. That a quick checklist shows that the various rounds of talks on issues ranging from Wuller Barrage project, Siachen, Sir Creek, nuclear risk reduction measures, trade and Kashmir have not really departed from the grooves in which these issues have been caught and have been sliding for long. This is cause for concern. The optimists would say that one should not take up these issues separately and see how much distance has actually been travelled. They would point to two factors: there is pressure on both India and Pakistan from international interlocutors to not allow the process to stall or get derailed; two, on the sidelines of the main show being conducted by bureaucrats and technocrats, there has been a flow of people on both sides that is creating its own momentum. Both factors are significant and if they remain within the equation, one can hope to see a forward movement. There is something to recommend the optimists' view. We do know that there have been some changes on all side. The United States, which generally stayed away from South Asia until the events of September 11, 2001, is now a South Asian power. It has a long-term agenda in the region and it is much more seriously involved in facilitating the process of a dialogue between India and Pakistan than before. It needs both the countries within its camp and the only way to keep two warring countries on its side is to force them into making peace. With Mr Bush in his second term, Washington is likely to push further for peace between India and Pakistan.

As if to underscore goodwill on both sides, India did not invoke the “cross-border mantra” at Islamabad while Pakistan, in signing the declaration, undertook to do everything to ensure that no one crossed over from its territory into Indian-held Kashmir. The declaration, thus, took a creative route towards

On the Indian side, under the BJP government, New Delhi came very close to the United States. India became the first country in the world, ahead even of Washington's NATO allies, to support President George Bush on his Ballistic Missile Defence programme; after 9/11 it offered military bases to the US; New Delhi's relations with Israel have further cemented the bonds between India and the US. The process started under the Clinton administration but carried on under Bush Senior and will likely proceed apace under Bush Junior also. Vested interests have been created on both sides with the US supporting India in its bid for a UNSC seat, sharing dual use technology with it and having a broad-based security dialogue with it under a joint working group. The relationship is developing its own structures and if the process goes on unimpeded, the structural imperatives will free it of the predilections of this or that government in Washington and New Delhi. As part of this process, New Delhi has realised that to take the giant leap it has always dreamed of taking it would, at the minimum, normalise with Pakistan. On the Pakistani side, General Pervez Musharraf, blamed in India for being the architect of the 1999 Kargil conflict, has affected a volte-face on nearly all the traditional national security ingredients. He ditched the Taliban and joined the American camp; he emphasises economy as the most vital area for Pakistan's development; he wants to normalise with India; he has climbed down on Pakistan's maximalist position on Kashmir and indeed invited free discussion on the issue. All this is a sea change for the soldier who would not talk to India unless India first brought Kashmir to the table. These turnarounds have also meant a near-irreparable break with those Islamist elements on whom Pakistan has pegged its national-security policy in Afghanistan as well as Kashmir. Terrorist attacks inside Pakistan and assassination attempts on General Musharraf himself show that the break is near complete. This creates a huge space for normalising with India. However, the issues the two countries are dealing with are not just procedural matters. They are substantive. Both have held their ground and are likely to in the near future until what is happening between the people begins to impinge on the process

in ways whose significance remains largely subterranean so far but whose impact can already be felt. Indeed, it is somewhat ironical that while the two sides have held their ground on issues like Siachen, Wuller and Sir Creek, there has been greater movement, at least unofficially, on the core issue of Kashmir. The SAFMA has been expanding and it has done a commendable job to prevail upon the Indian government to allow a group of Pakistani journalists to travel to Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in 57 years. We have seen some very good reports from those who were part of the delegation and some of the analyses have come up with quite creative ideas on how to resolve the issue without ruffling feathers on both sides. That the Pakistan government has reciprocated and allowed a group of journalists from J&K and India - who are part of the delegation at the conference here - to travel to Azad Kashmir is also a good omen. General Musharraf's October 25th remarks and his invitation to Pakistanis to debate the issue of Kashmir also indicates that the two sides are moving towards finding a creative solution. Discerning elements in India are also saying that New Delhi must not flinch from responding to new Pakistani formulations and rethink on the issue. The decision by India to reduce the number of troops in J&K too is a healthy sign, though New Delhi will have to do much more to introduce the kind of confidence building measures it should to return to the Kashmiris their right to normal life and dignity. These are good beginnings. But much more needs to be done to travel on the road to normalisation. I'd identify the following areas in terms of their degree of difficulty:

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and partnering Pakistan. Co-existing is therefore important. Both sides need to move towards realising these prospects. It will not be easy as we move from the first to the last, but one hopes that every step will pave the way for undertaking the next, more difficult venture. I think the CBMs that we have launched are significant. I believe that SAARC will become truly meaningful only after India and Pakistan have arrived a mutually agreeable matrix in which to solve their core disputes. In other words, the two countries don't have to resolve Kashmir before making SAARC meaningful. Nor can they make SAARC meaningful without arriving at a modus operandi to resolve Kashmir. It is in this context that General Pervez Musharraf's approach makes eminent sense. He has not suggested a solution. He has outlined a method on how to go about seeking one. If both countries follow this approach, they cannot go wrong.

Until now we have concentrated on the dialogue of the deaf. Track One and Track Two have been non-starters because they were based on the wrong assumption that each side simply had to convince the other of the rationale of its argument and cause. That was putting the cart before the horse. What was needed before a dialogue between India and Pakistan was a dialogue within Pakistan and a separate dialogue within India on where we both want to go and how we should go about it. Until the conventional status quo view is changed within each country by means of an independent and free dialogue, there can hardly be a dialogue between India and Pakistan. In this context, Pakistan has a head start. We in civil society have been discussing options on Kashmir even before the Pakistani state under General Musharraf was ready to do so. But in India there has been no such internal debate. Yes, Indian human rights activists have raised limited concerns but few have dared to challenge the Indian state's definition of the Kashmir problem. In other words, Pakistanis have been ready to challenge the status quo state position on Kashmir but Indians have not been ready to do the same. Therefore it is imperative that a sincere and serious debate should be kicked off in India about the options on Kashmir. That will provide the starting point of a serious debate between Pakistan and India on how to live and let live.

Cultural exchanges: They cover the entire spectrum of people-to-people contacts. Journalists travelling freely on both sides; student exchange programmes; visiting academics, scholars and fellows; people from the showbiz, opening markets for newspapers and books and so on. Political exchanges: Parliamentarians from both sides meeting regularly. Trade: Opening trade between the two sides. Moreover, while leaving aside issues like SAFTA, it would be beneficial to allow regional trade for instance between the two Punjabs and between AJK and J&K. The two sides could build on these beginnings for overall trade. Military exchanges: The two sides can exchange military delegations. The two armies have more in common between them than with any other army in the world. Such exchanges will also help in understanding signals during a crisis. Pakistan to understand India's aspirations: Pakistan would need to accept that India has a legitimate desire to play a bigger role in the region and beyond. So far, India's history of relations with its neighbours shows that it has acted in an exploitative rather than cooperative manner. That must change. However, Pakistan will need to understand some Indian compulsions. This could help both sides develop a better relationship. India to understand Pakistan: India must realise that Pakistan, while it may be much smaller than India, is a big country and it cannot be dismissed or treated with condescension. India needs to look at it as a partner rather than as a rival for dominance within the region. Also, India cannot access West and Central Asia without normalising

he forward movement in the Indo-Pak peace process has surprised most observers in the region and beyond. The decision by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf at their meeting in New York in September to explore all options for the peaceful resolution of Jammu and Kashmir and move towards a normalisation of bilateral relations has been followed by unconventional moves by both sides. Skepticism about the prospects for reconciliation between New Delhi and Islamabad has begun to be dented, if only in a small manner. This has set the stage for an intense diplomatic effort to transform the relations between India and Pakistan. This paper seeks to identify some deeper structural factors external and internal that provide the basis for an enduring peace in the subcontinent. On the external front, the post 911 international environment has made the use of certain type of tools and instruments for the conduct of foreign policy unacceptable. There is a growing consensus across the world that the use of violence as a means to achieve even self-evidently noble goals must be rejected. All the great powers and regional actors winked at the use of violence, when they saw it as a convenient way of promoting their interests. But today every one of them is threatened by the similar forces of extremism and violence and has a shared interest in curbing them. Second, the conflicts in South Asia either dovetailed into or were reinforced by the fault lines among the great powers in the world. The US-Soviet and Sino-Russian conflicts made it difficult for any enduring rapprochement between New Delhi and Islamabad. After the Cold War, both India and Pakistan have embarked upon the process of improving their relations with all the major powers.

India has maintained its traditional friendship with Russia while enlarging its interaction with the US and China. Islamabad has sustained its traditional friendship with Washington and Beijing while normalising its ties with Moscow. Today no major power wants a continuation of the Indo-Pak conflict and all great powers seek to avoid the danger of a nuclear conflict and prevent the rise of extremism in the subcontinent which threatens the entire international system. Third, economic globalisation is forcing a re-integration of the markets of the subcontinent. The necessity for regional trade and cooperation and their importance in rapidly lifting up the living standards of the people are compelling the leaderships of the subcontinent to view their traditional conflicts in a new light. So long as each of the South Asian states pursued their economic development independent of each other, it was easy to view the sources of conflict in primordial terms. But the imperatives of economic interdependence in South Asia forced by globalisation and regional integration are encouraging the regional elites to temper their views of the inter-state and intra-state conflict. Together the three factors have altered the dynamics of international relations in the Subcontinent. And they have made peace not merely one of the options but the only one.

intense. A conflict-fatigue has set in among the peoples of South Asia. The traditional argument from the ruling elite that the much needed political compromises in resolving inter-state conflict will not be acceptable to the people has begun to lose credibility. Second, rapid economic growth and good governance have become popular slogans across South Asia. While many traditional popular impulses of religious hatred and communal discord remain strong throughout the region, it has become possible for mainstream political trends to resist a compromise with these forces. Further, the peace dividend in South Asia is no longer seen merely in terms of shifting resource allocation from defence to development. That peace could open up borders that have remained closed and revitalise traditional trading relations among different communities in South Asia has become a powerful force driving the current peace process in the Subcontinent.

Third, until recently, the assertion of ethnic identities cutting across the boundaries of South Asia was has been seen as an immense threat to the state system in the subcontinent. Today amidst the broader processes of regional integration and general decentralisation of power it should be relatively easier for states to accommodate the aspirations of many of these ethnic communities. Going a step further it should be possible to view the emerging assertion of these trans-boundary communities as a way of bringing the discordant South Asian states together. That could also be a way of transforming the nature of South Asian boundaries and the ultimate creation of a South Asia of the regions. Such a framework will ensure both the survival of the traditional sovereign states in the subcontinent as well as restore the economic and cultural contact between communities. Any Indo-Pak settlement on Jammu and Kashmir will become final and enduring only if it is embedded in larger integration of the Subcontinent. While objective and structural factors drive the peace process today, the ability of leaderships to subjectively take advantage of the opportunity remains critical. The challenge for the civil societies in South Asia rests in seizing this moment to expand the limits of public discourse on traditional issues and making it easier for the political elite to grasp the nettle.

Internally, too, new forces in favour of peace have been unleashed in the subcontinent. On every occasion there has been a slight relaxation of tension between India and Pakistan, the popular demands for more forward movement have been

Media

he media in Pakistan have come a long way during the last few decades. They struggled hard to gain a measure of freedom of expression. Similarly, they acquired a credible level of professionalism in writing skills, technological advances, investigative journalism as well as research methodology. The media in Pakistan provide the most credible forum for debate on national issues, far more than academia or any other civil society institution or group. While the print media have taken a long time to mature as a platform for dispassionate analysis and free expression of news and views about public life, the electronic media have recently shot into prominence with a sprinkling of intellectual talent and capital investment all around. The English-language press is rich in intellectual potential and analytical capability, but limited in reachout and therefore in shaping public opinion. The Urdu press is influential in terms of communicating with a large reading public in the popular idiom, even as a major part of it displays a high level of partisanship by way of political coverage and analysis. In the vernacular press, the Sindhi press remains vibrant and energetic but constrained in terms of its ethnic constituency and the overt political agenda. What role have the media played in shaping public opinion in the context of Indo-Pakistan relations, and what can be

for peace

expected from them in pursuit of the agenda for bringing peace and harmony between the two counties? We can outline three phases of the media's role in Pakistan since independence. In the first phase (1947- 1971), the press moved in step with politics of the country in the midst of pangs of birth of a separate statehood. This led to creation of the 'other' in the form of Hindu India next door against the backdrop of communal riots, cross-migration through a river of blood and the ongoing Kashmir conflict. The media in Pakistan generally represented a mirror image of their counterparts in India. The second phase (1971-2003) typically reflected the changing regional dynamics as Pakistan moved away from South Asia in the wake of emergence of Bangladesh. Thereafter, Islamabad moved into the Middle East ideologically, politically and economically. For Islamabad, the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, the 1973 Arab-Israel war opening up the petrodollar-based market in the Gulf, the 1974 Indian nuclear explosion and the 1974 Islamic Summit in Lahore were important milestones on the way from turning its back on its Eastern neighbour to cultivating a new identity with South West Asia. In addition, the two-decade-long military engagement with Afghanistan and quest for an opening into Central Asia further pushed Islamabad away from Delhi. Militancy in Indianadministered Kashmir only widened the gulf between the two countries, duly reflected through its media coverage.

However, the last decade also produced counter-currents of dialogue across borders in both bilateral and multilateral contexts. The official negotiations were punctuated by Pakistani ruler General Zia-ul-Haq's visit to India in pursuit of 'cricket diplomacy'. The SAARC summits right up to January 2004 in Islamabad provided a regional framework for these negotiations. The Track II diplomacy, represented by the so-called Neemrana process, sought to widen their scope. However, it was the peopleto-people dialogue that really expanded the scope of understanding between the two publics. The press coverage of these civil society contacts across borders was helpful but not sufficiently engaging in style or decisive in impact. The military deployment along borders and a nuclear standoff in 2001-2002 represented a setback in the process.

in Pakistan. At the other end, the civil society initiatives have also come of age. The visits of NGO activists, the Chambers of Commerce office holders, women activists, human rights activists, scholars, journalists, and performing artists from India and Pakistan have immensely increased the points of contact between the two. The role of media has taken a quantum leap forward. The electronic media have moved ahead from the days of Amritsar and Lahore TV channels attracting the viewers from the other side in the 1980s. Now, multiple Indian TV channels are available to the Pakistani public, constantly updating India culturally, socially and politically for the domestic consumption. The time lag in following events in India has been considerably shortened, be it Gujarat killings, floods or elections. The 2004 elections in India and the subsequent process of government formation created a tremendous interest as well as appreciation for Indian democracy among Pakistanis. However, the two media are still generally preoccupied with their domestic situations. Bilateral relations continue to follow the traditional line. The print media have lagged behind the electronic media in reach-out across borders and representation of views from the other side. In this situation, the visit of Pakistani journalists to Indian-held Kashmir in October 2004 represented a major step forward in judging the ground reality at the other end. This trend must continue. There are few mediarelated joint organisational and professional ventures in place. The formation of South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA)

as an organisation of the leading media-persons from the region working for peace and cooperation beyond the national boundaries is a unique initiative that has a potential to facilitate the emergence of an effective network of intellectuals. SAFMA in turn took a major step forward by launching the publication of the South Asian Journal that attracted the talent across the board. What should the media do to further the cause of regional co-operation as a civil society initiative? First, individual and collective visits of journalists, both to cover events and to forge professional links among various countries of the region, should be encouraged in order to facilitate the agenda for de-demonisation of the 'other'. Second, the electronic media, which exercise a strong and direct impact on viewers, should cover the regional events and trends far more than they are doing now. Information about the neighbouring societies, cultures, economies and polities is the first step towards eliminating hate-based profiles of one another. After all, ghosts are the product of darkness. The composite dialogue would enormously benefit from opening up of the two media systems to each other in covering events, splashing news and views and providing a knowledge base for formation of realistic opinions as well as pragmatic policy options. Thirdly, the media in Pakistan have typically taken a conflict-resolution approach to Indo-Pakistan relations. They have almost bypassed the CBM approach to Indo-Pakistan relations, which can lead to an incremental growth of trust and establishment of a meaningful channel of communication between the two adversaries. Fourthly, the media must use the technological innovations such as video conferencing between panels of journalists, students, scholars, politicians and diplomats speaking from their national perspectives. Finally, the media must take the civil society along with them by representing the views of intelligentsia, party cadres, NGOs, educationists, human rights activists and professional middle class in general. It is time media took up an agenda-setting role for peace and co-operation between India and Pakistan and in South Asia.

The post-9/11 situation in South Asia indicates the beginning of a third phase in the media's role. It was followed by disengagement of Pakistan from Afghanistan and, to some extent, from Central Asia. The Middle East region is in potential disarray in the face of the war in Iraq. This points to an increase in the relevance of the South Asian region for policymakers

Reconciliation

yet to succeed in opening peace dialogue with the insurgents and on this score it is not much different from the previous palace-appointed governments. The war waged in the name of redeeming the indigenous ethnic tribes from the abyss of poverty has cost 13,000 lives so far. In view of the fact that several Indian states are affected by armed struggles similar to those launched by Maoists in Nepal, it is showing signs of spillover effects in various countries of South Asia if not contained in time. In view of the possibility of spill-over effects, India and Nepal are in the process of forming common bilateral strategies including military options with far-reaching implications for the region. Such a possibility also precludes the prospects of much hoped third party mediation in seeking the peaceful resolution of the conflict for the moment.

Mutual distrust, narrow nationalism, religious fundamentalism, intra-state and inter-state conflicts have divided the peoples of South Asia for too long retarding thereupon the process of achieving faster economic and social development. It is very difficult to ascertain which country or part of the region is spared from violence and insurgency. If Sri Lanka is grappling with a 20-year ethnic war, Bhutan is facing the looming danger of instability caused by the expulsion of indigenous people of Nepalese origin and lack of human rights. There are still 100,000 refugees on Nepalese soil since 1991 awaiting their repatriation. The refugee issue has been a major irritant in the relationship between Nepal and Bhutan and Nepal and India. While India insists that it is a bilateral issue to be solved between Nepal and Bhutan, Nepalese people do not absolve India on the grounds that Bhutan is bound by special treaty with India to consult it on matters of defence and foreign relations. It is but natural for Nepal to think that India is not doing enough to pressure Bhutan to solve the issue amicably though dialogue. The conflict between India and Pakistan has surmounted all conflicts in proportion. The perpetual state of tension dividing the peoples of both the countries having nuclear capabilities is still threatening the security of the neighbouring states and the peace and stability of the entire region. The issue of de-nuclearisation of South Asia is yet to gain momentum if a lasting peace and an environment free from fear is to be achieved. But, fortunately, with the pressure from international community and sagacity prevailing among the statesmen of both the countries, the situation is fast changing. A dramatic shift in the uncompromising stance was evinced during the SAARC summit held in Islamabad in January 2004. The restoration of transport and communication links and commercial relations that has followed the summit should be acclaimed as major trend-setters. In this context, the much hyped visit by Pakistani journalists in September 2004, to the otherwise forbidden India-administered Kashmir was a historic event towards mutual confidence building. There is no doubt that senior journalists, media facilitators and civil society organisations have played prominent role in the advocacy for peace over narrow interests that are mistakenly taken by many as manifestation of their national interest. In the quest of various options for a durable peace and elimination of the causes of conflict, the recent statement by President Musharraf of Pakistan that even the problem of Kashmir is subject to flexible negotiations, has ushered in hopes of averting conflict through dialogue and compromise in the larger interests of the prosperity of the peoples of the

Gokul Pokhrel entire region. During the last three years when relations between India and Pakistan were on the brink of disruption in the wake of terrorist attack on Indian parliament, media leaders of various South Asian countries have worked relentlessly in breaking the impasse. Significant among these are: Kathmandu taking initiative in hosting the South Asian Free Media Conference-II organised by SAFMA in January 2002 and the contributions made by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in extending goodwill of similar nature should not go unmentioned. Nepal, until a decade ago a stable and peaceful country is no longer so. The armed insurgency launched by Maoists since 1995, has plunged the country into deep chaos and instability. Democratic institutions are in a state of disarray and fierce power struggle among political forces is threatening to rip the country apart. The new coalition government of parliamentary parties in power since July this year has

Evidently, the outcomes of the SAARC summit in Islamabad, thanks to the statesmanship displayed by the leaders of India and Pakistan and the concerns expressed by the leaders of other countries, have been a remarkable pace-setter toward the quest for cooperation in the region. The adoption of a protocol on countering terrorism and pledge to cooperate should be viewed as an astounding success. Similarly, the adoption of the Social Charter and the framework agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), the willingness of launching a South Asian Poverty Alleviation Fund, hold the promises for durable peace in the region.

issues and contribute to building bridges of understanding and tolerance. In this respect, the Pakistani assertion that it respects diversity and pluralism rather than accentuating divisions is very reassuring and bodes well in ushering an era of peace and cooperation in the region. While we talk of the virtues of free flow of information, some countries have created barriers to restrict the flow of media products, notably, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. While Nepal does not restrict the entry of foreign media products, lately, concern has been expressed on foreign investment in media business. Media forum, such as this, should come out with a clearly defined stand on investment in media business applicable to all the countries without discrimination that could provide practical form to the principle of free flow of information. Howsoever commendable the role played by the media of SAARC region in promoting commonality of interests and harmony, we should not be averse to the damages done by manipulation of media power by unscrupulous elements, business or sectarian interests. Great disservice will be done if media fall prey to jingoism, dogmatism and fundamentalist elements. Such deviation can be countered by making the media scrupulously adhere to the principles of credibility, objective reporting and assertion of freedom from manipulation by vested interests. But the information media are baffled by shortcomings that veer them away from social service role. The rise of monopolies controlling media channels and systems at the hands of powerful businesses and the manipulative power over the flow of information is harmful to plurality of thoughts and the principles of free flow of information. Such a trait can be countered by putting into effect a programme that encourages the development of

Modern communication technologies and the all pervasive electronic media across the frontiers have played important role as a catalyst in blowing the winds of change that have helped turning hostilities into amity and understanding. The shift in nation-centric attitudes of the statesmen of the region has been much instrumental in keeping away the forces who preach narrow-mindedness, dogmatism, paranoia and hostility. Political leaders of various SAARC nations now agree that promoting free flow of information across borders can have dynamic effect in strengthening the prospects of cooperation and act as leverage against hostilities. But to achieve this, as Pakistan's foreign Minister Mr K.M. Kasuri states media leaders should break the stereotypes in reporting of events and

indigenous language media and smaller media businesses. The countries of South Asia, the smaller nations in particular, are always haunted by manipulation of information by powerful media channels and newspapers by taking advantage of the helplessness of smaller nations which always find themselves at the receiving end. Discriminations do persist in free flow of information products. To eliminate such discriminatory practices, time has come to launch a South Asian Media Rights Commission manned by jurists and peers of media profession. It is also desirable to think about a SAARC Media Charter and a commonly applicable media code of conduct that discourages media practitioners to indulge in spreading out communal hatred, inciting violence and narrow nationalism and prejudicial behaviour to ethnic and religious minorities. The Millennium Development Goals outlined by the United Nations have brought poverty reduction strategy on agenda. In this context, the role of media not only in awareness creation but also in the dissemination of knowledge through widening access to information deserves our close attention. As poverty reduction has been made one of the common agenda by south Asian nations, it might be pertinent to deliberate on to what extent we can conceive of a 'pro-poor media strategy' and work out a plan of action in support of this. Commensurate to the role journalists are now playing in keeping the 'track-two dialogue' going and bringing down the shackles of mistrust and hostilities, it is essential that the government leaders manifest liberal attitude in facilitating the free movement of media persons and media products across the frontiers. Some positive moves have been made in this direction but these fall short of tangible measures. Nepal is the first country in the region to allow visa-free entry of nationals from the region. The move should be pursued until all the fetters on free flow of information are removed. The emergence of an undaunted media having the skills and capacity to present issues impartially and objectively can prove an asset in strengthening the cause of peace and cooperation. But to enable media play its role fearlessly, all the parties involved in conflicts, be it governments or ethnic groups, need to

be persuaded to renounce the use of force, by creating an environment of trust and confidence. Regional peace can have rich dividends in the elimination of the scourge of poverty from all the countries of the region if the leaders are persuaded to rise above their nation-centric approaches and biases and think of the prosperity of the entire region. For this, the logic of applying differing standards and bilateralism with neighbours needs to be replaced by regional cooperation regimes and covenants that encourage free trade and commerce and collaborative economic activities. For instance, Pakistan is talking of the possibility of bringing natural gas from Central Asia to South Asia by facilitating the construction of pipelines through her territory. An energy hungry Nepal aspires very much to have the natural gas supplied from Bangladesh by laying pipelines over the 20-mile stretch of Indian territory. Nepal, endowed with enormous hydro-power potential, could help replenish much of the energy needs of the northern part of the continent under a stable regional cooperation regime. In recent times, global hegemonic trends, muscle flexing by the powerful and misinterpretation of lofty principles of democracy and freedom to own advantages are threatening peace, tolerance and harmony as guaranteed by international conventions and charters. It is rather distressing that innocent civilians, women and children are killed in various parts of the world in the name of countering the threat of terrorism. While unscrupulous religious fanatics and perverted political demagogues are misleading the innocent peoples under the grip of poverty, ignorance and hunger, their extermination through use of force should certainly not be the right answer. South Asia, which is credited with expounding the lofty principles of 'Panchasila', the five principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, tolerance and mutual respect fifty years ago, should again forge collective strength to rectify the current aberrations apparent in the norms of globalisation and healing the cracks that have diminished the effectiveness of international peace-keeping mechanism. stable regional cooperation regime. In recent times, global hegemonic trends, muscle flexing by the powerful and misinterpretation of lofty principles of democracy and freedom to own advantages are threatening peace, tolerance and harmony as guaranteed by international conventions and charters. It is rather distressing that innocent civilians, women and children are killed in various parts of the world in the name of countering the threat of terrorism. While unscrupulous religious fanatics and perverted political demagogues are misleading the innocent peoples under the grip of poverty, ignorance and hunger, their extermination through use of force should certainly not be the right answer. South Asia, which is credited with expounding the lofty principles of 'Panchasila', the five principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, tolerance and mutual respect fifty years ago, should again forge collective strength to rectify the current aberrations apparent in the norms of globalisation and healing the cracks that have diminished the effectiveness of international peace-keeping mechanism.

SESSION II

Independence of media after9/11

Padgaonkar moderated the proceedings. Initiating the discussion, Bertrand Pecquerie, Director World Editors' Forum, traced the evolution of American news media over the past four decades. In the first phase, starting with the Watergate revelations, American journalism was perceived world-wide as a model worthy of respect and emulation. The coverage of the Vietnam war vastly strengthened this perception. This was the period when American editors established a tradition of fact-checking and encouraged the publication of diverse, and critical, views on the op-ed page. The second phase began in the wake of the first Gulf war. The US army controlled the flow of information. Questions arose about the relations between journalism and patriotism and the knowledge American journalists possessed about other cultures. The news media were regarded as victims, and not as players, of news management.

reedom of expression is definitely one of the victims of 9/11 and journalists can only defend press freedom by holding to fundamental principles of their profession, one of them being the recognition to work together.

This was a consensus among speakers at the second session of the South Asian Free Media Association's (SAFMA) fourth conference held here on Saturday. The topic of the session was independence of media after 9/11. The speakers included World Editors' Forum Director Bertrand Pecquerie, International Federation of Journalists President Christopher Warren, International Federation of Human Rights' Dr Anne-Christine Habbard and Pakistani journalist Zahid Hussain of Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. The session was chaired by Mr Ahmad Rashid and Indian journalist Mr Dileep

Following 9/11 and the severe trauma it generated, American journalism entered a phase which blotted its role. Even the most influential media parroted the Bush administration's claims prior to the invasion of Iraq about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in the country and about Saddam Hussein's alleged links with al-Qaeda. Discredited Iraqi leaders, based in the US and UK, were given inordinate coverage. Verification of facts was vastly ignored. Embedded journalism flourished and this was the anti-model that negated the dynamic character of American media. The year 2004, however, witnessed a change of tack for the better. The American media reported and commented at length on the Abu Ghraib scandal. Major newspapers also made their 'mea culpa' about their lack of journalistic vigilance. Moreover, the Federal Communications Commission slowed down the process of consolidation of the media. This augurs well for the future of American journalism.

According to Christopher Warren, President IFJ, the media have changed in four significant ways since 9/11. The world is more dangerous for journalists; governments are restricting what media can report; military and governmental spin makes it difficult for media to honestly inform viewers and readers; and the media itself indulges in self-censorship through fear or a perceived patriotic duty. More than 60 journalists have died in Iraq. Their organizations have been attacked and not by terrorists alone. The attackers include democratic governments who ignored their duties under the Geneva Convention that needs to be updated. This is why it is important that governments bring the conventions and protocols pertaining to the protection of journalists up to date and then ratify and implement them. The fight against terrorism must not lead to the curtailment of human rights and press freedoms as has been the case, for instance, in the US, India or Nepal. Military and governmental spin has resulted in a skewed media discourse. Verbs like 'to attrite' or 'to degrade' are synonyms for mass slaughter. Apart from self-censorship, Warren also spoke about the misuse of the email and the web to coordinate socalled spontaneous protests or to spread malicious and motivated reports. The way out is: journalists can defend press freedom by upholding the fundamental principles of their craft. He said foreign correspondents did face danger but those covering local events for local audience were particularly at risk. There was growing contempt for journalists among those who held guns. Mr Warren said journalists not only in America but also in Pakistan and India were taking intelligence sources as true which was misleading. He said independence of media to report what they saw was compromised and the language and the values were subverted. "The commitment that journalists have shown around the world to come together in that way gives us all hope that press freedom will continue to illuminate our democratic societies," he said.

Dr. Anne-Christine Habbard of the FIDH and Zahid Hussain of the Wall Street Journal also spoke at this session reinforcing with greater details the points made by the previous speakers.

During the 1970s and 1980s, it was already easy to criticize the American capitalism or the American empire, but immediately you had to add a proviso: 'American democracy is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitutionâ&#x20AC;Ś and battalions of investigative reporters and smart columnists'. In other words, American democracy was fact-checked by the American press!

Dr Habbard said the post-Sept 11 had reinforced authoritarian regimes all over the world depending mainly on the US geo-political interests. "The French proverb says "never mimic your enemy" but unfortunately it seems that the US and a host of other nations have fallen exactly into that trap," she said. She said after Sept 11 the US had come to blindly support authoritarian regimes. There was also a blatantly expedient decision to remain silent in the face of massive human rights violations when committed by a strategic ally. Dr Habbard said another problem was that many countries had jumped on the bandwagon of war against terror to suppress dissident voices at home through anti-terrorist legislation with terrorists usually loosely defined.

Three faces

Bertrand Pecquerie

of American journalism

In Muslim countries, she said, there was a tendency of rulers to position themselves as the ultimate ramparts against fundamentalist Islam, in order to gain credit with the US, she said while quoting the example of Pakistan. Dr Habbard said a serious problem with the strengthening of national security laws was how they had been constantly exercized to control and limit press freedom. The restrictions on freedom of expression had also affected NGOs, bar councils, academics and artists, she said. She said Pakistan had an undefined notion of national interest, which in turn allowed for a surprisingly broad definition of national security, a very powerful army, a moderate Muslim leader who presented himself as the indispensable power to hold back the fundamentalist groups, a pliant judiciary, few democratic and human rights safeguards and a key strategic position in the US-led war against terror. She said Pakistan government had developed a wide array of methods to stifle freedom of expression, including adoption of stringent legislation, selective application of the law, carrot and stick approach, economic insecurity of journalists, multiplication of administrative obstacles and self-censorship. "The authorities have over the years created an atmosphere both within the political arena, the media and within civil society, in which fundamental freedoms are considered as privileges and not rights. Freedom of expression is definitely one of the victims of 9/11," she remarked. Mr. Hussain lambasted the western governments for not allowing journalists full freedom to report on the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq in the wake of 9/11 and western journalists for falling in line with the official position. But on this latter score, he did not spare the media

he American press has been a model and a reference for all newspapers for 30 years. Its becoming a counter-model in the last two years is a lesson of humility.

1) American journalist as a hero I don't have to remind you about Watergate at the beginning of the 1970s and how the American 'Fourth estate' was percieved all around the world: two journalists from the Washington Post were able to get the President of the United States, Richard Nixon removed! But this 'act of bravery' was nothing if you compare it to another major fact in the history of journalism: how American journalists reported the Vietnam war and how, month after month, they changed the mind of a majority of Americans. The American press won the war against the Pentagon and the Johnson/Nixon administrations. It was possible to say 'We are all American journalists'. And when you look back today at what the American journalistic landscape was offering, it was terrific:

! ! ! ! !

the best Journalism Schools such as the Columbia School of Journalism and so many others a tradition of fact-checking that really didn't exist in other countries the rise of 'Op-Ed' pages in major newspapers to present a huge range of opinion the lack of corruption in a profession that had, at one time, been corrupt and maybe the most important thing, the invention of a genuine 'we-report-you decide' journalism (not Fox variety).

2) American journalist as a victim Then, in the history of American journalism, there was a first alarm bell at the beginning of the 1990s during the first Gulf war. The Army controlled all images and prohibited in-depth and independent coverage of military operations. The result was that the American press appeared as a victim of the government and the Pentagon. When you read all comments of this period, it's about 'poor journalists' who could not access the battleground. This kind of 'victimization' of journalists was really the worst thing to happen because it masked a lot of difficult issues. For instance, some American columnists denounced the 'virtual war' and fascination for 'smart weapons'. But these columns were on page 9 or 10 of the newspapers, not at the front page where American reporters detailed all new innovations in the weapons industry. But it is also true for all newspapers around the world became catalogues for Raython, Northrup and other major weapons firms! The main impression remained that the American press was a victim, and not a player of the new infowar. For many American editors and senior news executives, it was easy to say 'it's not our faultâ&#x20AC;Ś' and to consider themselves without reproach. This, I feel, explains the drift that happened after the 9/11 attacks. 3) American journalist as a counter-model It is impossible to minimize the trauma of the World Trade Center 3,000 victims. Journalists were concerned, as were all American citizens and nobody can reproach them for reflecting this trauma and sometimes writing differently than they used to do. It is also difficult to see 'the American press' as a unique entity and I don't want to be seen as judge and jury. And it's impossible to talk about American journalism without mentioning Simon Hersh from the New Yorker years ago, he revealed the Mylai massacre during the Vietnam war and, he was the first to investigate the Abu Ghraib abuses in Iraq. He is proof that American reporters can find resources to be at the cutting edge of good journalism. But what has happened to the American press in 2002 and 2003 will be seen in the history of journalism as a severe blow to our

profession. Edward Wasseman, Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee university, said in a recent article, 'The supremacy of fact is under siege… When a study found that 72 per cent of Bush supporters believe that Iraq had or was actively developing weapons of mass destruction, and 75 per cent believe that Iraq was substantially supporting al Qaeda, something is wrong with the country's political information system'. Here the problem is not that American journalists didn't have enough means or ideas to investigate the pre-war claims concerning Iraq's strategic arsenal - that could happen to every reporter -, the real issue is that American newspapers became the best 'agents' of the Bush administration. In the New York Times, you often found articles with the unique views of the largely discredited Ahmed Chalabi and his friends from the Iaqi refugees community in New York or London. Similar was the case with the Washigton Post where skeptical reports about WMD were downplayed and relegated to inside pages. How American journalism, well-known for its investigative and factchecking tradition, became a caricature of journalism… that is the main issue. BBC news chief, Richard Sambrook, helps us find some answers. In New York, he said that 'American media were failing the public by wrapping themselves in the American flag… The responsability of the news media is to ask the difficult questions, to press, to verify. And we know that all of us failed to ask the right questions about WMD in advance of the war'. Instead of weapons of mass destruction, American newspapers were confronted with weapons of mass disinformation (from the government and the CIA) but very few had a good understanding of this new phenomenon.

Unfortunately, what appears as a failure of American journalism is not limited to pre-war assertions. A majority of newspapers ignored two very important debates: ! First, this old/new journalism called 'embedded journalism'. This kind of journalism at time of war has always existed and cannot be criticized. But it becomes a problem when it is almost 2/3 of the war coverage and when it implies a new real time constraint: the newspapers' embedded journalists didn't have time to write their own stories, they had to react to and comment on what was seen by Americans on Fox news, CNN and the other networks. In my opinion, American newspapers were right to accept the principle of 'embedded journalism', but they were wrong to rely almost exclusively on it. It gave a strong distortion to what was perceived by American audiences. ! Regarding Human Rights issues, the Patriot Act and the Guantanamo jail status were evidently discussed in major newspapers, but not really in the other 800 important regional daily newspapers. A sort of self-censorship has ruled the American press including some major press institutes or organisations who usually discussed everything about media matters. There was a strange silence in the most chattering and debating press! If 2002 and 2003 were bad years for American journalistc standards, 2004 looked better. First because the Abu Ghraib scandal was not minimized or depreciated. Everything possible was done to inform American readers and very few columns said the responsability for abuses was limited to a few individuals. Second, major newspapers have made their 'mea culpa', in particular the New York Times and the Washington Post. This is very encouraging: personally, I'm not used to finding articles from editors or publishers saying 'We were wrong'. Third, in June 2004, the FCC the Federal Communications Commission slowed down the relentless march of American media consolidation in a decision on a lawsuit filed by the Media Access Project. It is 'a first understanding that the loss of a free, independent press and diversity of media voices is anthetical to democracy' prophetically said Frank A. Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times. Press credibility is now so low in America that this has become a major issue. And it is a threat to the whole newspaper industry: if readers don't trust their newspaper, they don't buy it anymore, the circulation and the advertising revenues decline. It's a vicious circle: so, American newspapers have to react very quickly to their readers' questions if they don't want to ruin their main asset: the truth. Hopefully, in the news business, the first word will not be ignored any more. Conclusion As editors from around the world, we have to think about these three faces of American journalism: first, as hero during the Vietnam war, second as victim during the first Gulf war and third as a counter-model in the aftermath of the second Gulf war. My hope and my conviction are that American journalists will correct the drifts of some recent practices … and that in a next SAFMA conference we will see American newspapers as inspiring examples once again. Eventually, I would ask you as an editor or a senior news executive: 'if something such as the 9/11 attacks would happen in your homeland, are you confident it would not affect all or part of your professional ethics to defend your country? Thanks in advance for your answer.

Post 9/11: Zahid Hussein

Independence of media drawn line. In most cases newspapers and television channels have become tool of their government's propaganda to the extreme that exposes all the western values and ethics of fair, impartial and objective journalism. Afghanistan was the first theatre of US-led war on terror immediately after the September 11 terror attacks. Almost three years after the US-led coalition forces routed the conservative Taleban regime, there has been no true coverage of the unfinished war. It was largely because of the restriction imposed by the US occupied forces on the media persons. The journalists covering the war were often banned from going to the areas devastated by American bombings or investigating the brutal killings carried out by the pro-US warlords. The war reports in most of the US and western media were based on Pentagon briefings in Washington. It is still not known how many Afghans were killed in the war. The massacre of hundreds of pro-Taleban prisoners at Qila Jangi by the forces of US backed warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum came to the surface incidentally when a Newsweek journalist was informed about the horror by his translator.

ndependence of media has been a major casualty in the post-September 11 war on terror. Objectivity and impartiality have given way to partisan and patriotic journalism. International media are polarised on ideological lines, reflecting establishment's positions. Reports filed by journalists embedded with the US and British forces give only one side of the picture of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The true magnitude of people's suffering and devastation has never been properly reported. Round the clock images of war on TV channels with menacingly advancing tanks offer only a tiny glimpse of horrors of war. A large section of western media strictly follows the Washington-

Iraq war destroyed whatever little objectivity was left in some of the American media. Some top newspapers like New York which have always taken pride in their unbiased reporting became the instrument of propagating the threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The Times later admitted its mistake of publishing reports based on the information provided by a long-time ally of the US who was later dumped by Bush administration. The false information about WMD was used by President Bush to launch a war in Iraq. Television channels like CNN, Fox and others presented round-the-clock images of the war for the so-called 'liberation' of people of Iraq filmed from US tanks. The misery and cries of hundreds and thousands of Iraqi men, women and children were drowned out by the incessant nattering of experts and analysts hailing the

The misery and cries of hundreds and thousands of Iraqi men, women and children were drowned out by the incessant nattering of experts and analysts hailing the great victory. 32

great victory. Listening to them one wondered whether they were talking a war or presenting a super-bowl running commentary. The TV footage of war looked like a Hollywood thriller. There has been little mention of devastation caused by indiscriminate assault of US forces which resulted in destruction of the cities and killing of more than one hundred thousand Iraqis. The media deliberately down played the images of civilian casualties. Showing Iraqi prisoners of war on television was fine, but it was considered unethical when Arab TV channels like Al Jazeera showed the bodies of American soldiers taken prisoners by the Iraqi forces. The Iraqi resistance has been labelled as terrorism. Television footages were sent to the US military for clearance before being aired. Reporters, including the award-winning journalist Peter Arnet who worked for an American network, who dared to challenge

Defending the profession

the official line were dismissed from the job. The polarization of media could be well assessed by the contrasting reports on war between US and Arabic TV channels. Journalists working with western media often complain of the pressure and restriction under which they have to work. Reports have to follow certain line. The live coverage of war is being fully controlled and manipulated to swing public opinion in favour of the war in the United States and Britain. While the one-sided coverage of war has created outrage in the Muslim world, it is being used as propaganda device too influence public mind at home.

of our knowledge, about 62 journalists and other media workers have been killed. Some have been deliberately targeted while others have been caught in the crossfire. Yet others have died as a result of the collapse of social support within Iraq. It is hard to draw any positives from this picture. But we should acknowledge that it has generated a widespread and growing recognition of the dangers journalists face while covering war.

Such kind of one-sided reporting is not restricted to the American and some other western media. It is also prevalent in the Arab and Muslim world. This phenomenon is quite evident in Pakistan. There has been a distinct shift in the position of Pakistani media after the military government took an about-turn on its Afghan policy. While the official and semi official media followed the establishment line, the right wing press continued supporting the hardline Islamists and stepping up anti-American propaganda. Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar are portrayed as heroes who are leading Muslim resistance against infidels. Reports of Taleban "military success" are highlighted. Everything published in the western press is rejected as "infidel propaganda". The one-sided and partisan reporting of the events only distorts the reality and further widens the divide.

Unfortunately, all this publicity has not led governments to properly grasp their responsibilities. When NATO targeted the Belgrade television tower in 1999, it set a terrible precedent for journalists and media workers. When democracies declare media organisations legitimate military targets, there are plenty of others prepared to take them at their word. It is a precedent that was relied upon when the Israeli military attacked the Palestinian broadcaster in 2000 and when the US forces destroyed the Iraqi media in the first days of the invasion in 2003. And it is a precedent that was followed just last month when Al Arabiya television was attacked with a car bomb in Baghdad. Now, I'm not one of those who consider the Geneva Conventions â&#x20AC;&#x153;quaintâ&#x20AC;?.

rom South Asia to the United States of America, the war in Iraq dominates the international and often the national stage. The war has been a prism which refracts reality. It has become a metaphor for understanding the world not as it is, but for how the viewer would like it to be. So in the past 18 months, Iraq has been synonymous with the four significant ways in which the media and our lives as journalists have changed since September 11. First, the world is more dangerous for journalists. Second, governments are restricting what we can report. Third, military and governmental spin is keeping our communities uninformed. Fourth, the media are selfcensoring through fear or through a perceived patriotic duty. Safety As journalists, our task is not to retail metaphors. It is to report the world as it is. Yet for us, Iraq has become its own tragic metaphor. It has caused unnecessary and tragic deaths of too many of our colleagues. To the best

We would all be better off if more governments signed up to the 1977 Protocols and recognised the critical role of the International Commission of the Red Cross to help protect journalists. The International Federation of Journalists is collaborating with other organisations to ensure that the conventions and other international laws are properly applied. But the role of journalism in conflict has changed dramatically since the conventions were drafted over half a century ago. This is why the IFJ has launched a campaign to see the conventions or protocols amended to reflect the special role of media workers and the special responsibility of combatants to respect and protect journalists. A little more respect and a little less cavalier disregard would have seen significantly fewer of our colleagues die in Iraq and fewer die elsewhere in the future. Government restrictions Of course, the responsibilities of governments transcend the obligations to provide a safe environment. Governments have an obligation to encourage and nurture the conditions that enable a free and independent media to flourish. There is no doubt that ever since the September 11 attacks, governments around the world have been using the new climate of the so-called war on terror to crack down on press freedom and human rights. Like journalists and journalists' organisations everywhere, the IFJ understands instinctively what terrorist attacks on democratic society mean. It is an understanding born from our long experience. Journalists have long been targets of terrorists. And in the shadow of September 11, we were tragically reminded that journalists would remain targets by the murder of Martin O'Hagen in Northern Ireland and Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan. But in that understanding, we refuse to accept human rights should be sacrificed to fear. The IFJ and its member unions have led the way in monitoring, documenting and fighting attempts by

governments to use this new climate to restrict press freedom and human rights. We released our first report within six weeks of September 11 and have carried on as we started. It has been a lonely fight at times but it is necessary and it has been right. Now, we are starting to see the first bits of good news. In Korea, the government has announced it intends to repeal its long standing National Security Act which has been used against journalists too often. In the United States, in the midst of a national security election, the sole senator who opposed the Orwellian named USA PATRIOT Act was re-elected despite attacks on his patriotism. This reinforces what we know: people are genuinely concerned about terrorism. They are also concerned about attempts by governments to restrict their rights. However, this good news is offset with a plethora of laws recently introduced or old laws resuscitated for use against free media. And too often it appears we are taking two steps forward and three steps back. Like most organisations committed to press freedom, the IFJ welcomed the decision by the Indian Government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act which had been used to restrict press freedom and human rights. It is extraordinarily disappointing to see that many of the worst aspects of POTA have been incorporated into the new ordinances, contradicting the commitment by the governing parties to rely instead on pre-existing laws. In Nepal last month, King Gyanendra signed into law a new version of the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Ordinance which lapsed earlier this year. Too many journalists know that the sort of power this ordinance gives to security forces poses a real challenge to a free press. It has been used in Nepal to detain and harass journalists attempting to carry out their job. As the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances has noted, more people have “disappeared” in Nepal by security forces than in any other country. Like too many of these types of laws around the world, it is doing nothing to strengthen the democratic forces in Nepal. It should be obvious that we cannot defend democracy, human rights and press freedom with measures that restrict these rights. But our experiences of the past three years show that this is a point that needs to be made again and again. Spinning Despite the real time footage on 24 hour news channels, we probably see and hear less of the ugly reality of the war in Iraq than we did in the wars of the sixties, seventies and eighties, before military and governments had learnt how to control the media. Now media are embedded when they cannot be avoided and excluded when they can be. One of the first actions of the new Iraqi government was to expel the Al Jazeera network from the country. Words themselves are used and misused to conceal what is actually happening. It is probably hard to make the case that words are more important than people, although the assault on language has been one of the most disturbing parts of the war on terror. I've already talked about the USA PATRIOT Act. But in everyday media discourse we see new words created or old words pressed to new service to soften the reality that we are reporting. Verbs such as “to attrite”, or “to degrade”, both now used as synonyms for mass slaughter for the benefit of television's queasy prime time audiences. As the Canadian writer Russell Smith said last year: to talk about a military unit being “degraded by 70 per cent” is an abdication of journalistic responsibility.

the only way to win the “war on terror”, as it was named, would be to promote human rights throughout the world - all human rights, not just civil and political, but also economic and social, to establish a badly needed justice at the international level.

Self-censorship Of course, we cannot simply blame our governments and our militaries for the changes to our media since September 11. We have to acknowledge that there have been changes to the way we operate. In many countries there has been deliberate selfcensorship: a reluctance to report the hard issues when our societies are seen to be at war or dealing with internal conflicts. Partly this is driven by justifiable fear of mobbing, i.e., the use of mobs to intimidate journalists. This is both actual as we saw in the recent anti-Muslim riots in Kathmandu and virtual as when organised groups use email and the web to coordinate socalled spontaneous protests.

However, it is a sad reckoning that post-September 11 has on the contrary reinforced authoritarian regimes, depending mainly on the United States' geopolitical interests. “The end justifies the means”, they say, without realising that when it comes to human rights, the end is the means; you never achieve freedom by negating first. There is a proverbial saying in French: “never mimic your enemy” unfortunately, it seems that the United States, followed by a host of other nations, has reproduced the mirror image of its adversary. As a Pakistani friend told me recently “our government inflicts terror in the name of the war against terror” sadly enough, the same thing could be said of dozens of other governments throughout the world, particularly in Asia.

Partly, too, it is driven by deliberative campaigning in place of news. We see this both locally -- the examples of the Gujarati language media [during the pogrom] in 2002 have been well documented and globally most infamously with the Fox network, which now runs the terror warning as part of its news ticker like the weather. As journalists, how do we meet these challenges? Journalists can only defend press freedom by holding to the fundamental principles of the craft. One of those principles has always been a recognition that journalists need to work together, by coming together at a national level in independent trade unions of journalists committed to press freedom and linking up internationally through the International Federation of Journalists. The commitment that journalists have shown around the world to come together in that way gives us all hope that press freedom will continue to illuminate our democratic societies.

hen the attack happened on 9/11, US President George Bush, joined by a unanimous chorus of western leaders, denounced it as one on “freedom”, on the whole architecture of human rights, and on all the countries, which supposedly cherished fundamental freedoms. One could then legitimately have hoped that the silver lining of this tragedy would be a stronger commitment to promoting and defending the values said to have been attacked. Our hope, in the human rights community, was precisely that the countries which had been so prompt in denouncing the “obscurantist” views of the authors of 9/11, would understand that

The first problem is the role of the US. The US has, in a very short-sighted manner, shifted its alliances and has come to blindly support authoritarian regimes. We see it with the Central Asian republics, with Russia, with Malaysia, and with Pakistan. The United States' dangerous compromises against the fundamental right to due process, the adoption of martial courts and the Patriot Act which limits fundamental freedoms, have obviously put them in an indefensible position to criticise other governments committing human rights violations. But there is also an expedient decision to remain silent in the face of massive human rights violations when committed by a “strategic ally” not realising that, in the long run, they end up consolidating their adversary rather then weakening it, while at the same time alienating the moderate, democratic groups and parties abandoned in the process. But many countries have jumped on the bandwagon of “war against terror” to suppress dissident voices at home, through the reinforcement of anti-terrorist legislation with “terrorists” usually very loosely defined. Most often, such anti-terrorist legislation has essentially served internal purposes, notably those of silencing voices of the opposition, rather than effectively aiming at eradicating terrorism. This is

the case in Russia, in India, in Malaysia, in Egypt, in Syria, in Uzbekistan but also in France, or in Great Britain (Unfortunately, the list is much longer). The various governments have skilfully used the 'fight against terrorism' to suppress political opposition and repress human rights defenders, including journalists.

voices, first and foremost of human rights defenders. Furthermore, in Muslim countries in Asia, we notice a tendency of rulers to position as the bulwark against fundamentalist Islam, to get leeway with the US. This was the case with Mahathir before he stepped down and with Musharraf, who has successfully convinced the world that he is Pakistan's indispensable man, and that only he can hold sway over the fundamentalist groups. How the international community could be misled by such a claim by a man whose political alliances lie precisely with the religious groups remains a mystery.

The “fight against terrorism”, often taken as the “defence of the country”, itself slides into mere “patriotism” and narrow-minded nationalism, which takes the shape of a near-sacred cause. An effect of 9/11 is the subversion of language: some words have become taboo; the vocabulary of human rights is misappropriated, as governments have increasingly used the rhetoric of values and principles and freedom as a cloak for severely repressive measures. 9/11 has entailed restrictions on freedom of expression and damaged expression, as words no longer mean the same.

A serious problem with the strengthening of national security laws is how they are exercised to control and limit press freedom. In Malaysia for instance, the government has proposed amending of the Penal Code to target all those who "help" terrorists, including journalists who will not reveal their sources. In India, the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) names a terrorist as anyone with "intent to threaten the unity and integrity of India or to strike terror in any part of the people" - a journalist criticising the government's policy say, on Kashmir, could easily be perceived as “threatening the unity of India”.

2. The Particularity of the Asian region There is a particularity of Asian countries, which predates 9/11, but which definitely has been strengthened since. It is the widespread use of national security laws, which the Asian Human Rights Commission has labelled “the social encephalitis of Asian societies”. The repressive national security laws in Asia are linked to a tradition of strong executive powers (often by and through a strong influence of the army), and a lack of independence of the judiciary, which often readily complies with the executive's selective application of the law in targeting individuals and groups in the opposition. The deadly combination of pre-existing national security laws and the newly found war against terrorism resulted in the Internal Security Act in Malaysia, the Prevention of Terrorism Act in India, the State Protection Law in Burma, the Anti-Terror Law in Indonesia, to name just a few amid increasingly severe repression of dissenting

Even if I concentrate more on media freedom, it has to be borne in mind that the restrictions on freedom of expression have also affected NGOs, Bar Councils, academics, artists etc. 3. A case in point: Pakistan What do we see in Pakistan? That Pakistan in effect combines all these above-mentioned elements to a certain degree:

A very widely defined (or maybe undefined) notion of national interest, which is linked to the

Ypusaf Jamil and Shujat Bukhari from Kashmir

! ! ! !

peculiar conditions of the Pakistani history and the lack of a clear national identity which in turns allows for a surprisingly broad definition of national security; A very powerful army, which holds a structural and considerable leverage over all political, economic and social life in Pakistan; A moderate Muslim leader who presents himself as the indispensable figure to hold back the fundamentalist groups, in spite of the long-standing alliance between the military and the religious groups since Ziaul Haq's time; A tradition of strongly repressive laws; A compliant judiciary; Few effective democratic and human rights safeguards; And a key strategic position in the US-led “war against terror”, which means near unconditional support for Musharraf, however arbitrarily he might behave.

All these elements have combined after September 11 to free Musharraf's hand, leading to an unmistakably unfavourable context for freedom of expression. In effect, the militaryled regime pretends to play by human rights rules, present a democratic veneer, crack down on fundamentalist movements, and allow freedom of expression to gain some national and international legitimacy, when it is actually putting all its energy in maintaining its grip on power, by all necessary means. Now if we look at the specific instruments used by the government to stifle freedom of expression, we see that it has used a two-pronged approach: on the one hand, the selective use of a wide array of draconian legislation to arrest targeted individuals perceived as offending the authorities; and on the other hand, the inculcation of a culture of fear through various

Chanchal Manohar Singh and Satnam Singh Manak from India

means of intimidation which, in turn, have led to widespread self-censorship. The government is both brutal and sophisticated in the way it violates human rights: using brute force to harass independent voices, and simultaneously restraining them through seemingly innocuous administrative obstacles and co-opting the human rights discourse it is undermining. Some points are noteworthy: 1.

2. 3.

The adoption of stringent legislation, specifically aimed at curbing free expression in the country. This has been undertaken in contravention of internationally recognised human rights standards, and Pakistan's own Constitution. A deliberate use of the “carrot and stick” approach: punishing supposed foes and rewarding friends. A selective use of force to coerce groups and individuals into conformity. This is compounded by a tradition of secrecy within Pakistani politics, and an extremely wide understanding of “national interest”, which makes it difficult to investigate on and divulge sensitive matters. The weakness of the current Freedom of Information Act of 2002 is somewhat despairing in this regard, given the intrinsic and specific link between freedom of expression and freedom of information in Pakistan. The exploitation of the structural vulnerability of press groups, especially smaller ones, which makes them more likely to yield under pressure from the executive. The government readily uses the financial levy against media groups critical of its policies by banning official advertisement in papers (as was the case in 2004 with The Nation and Nawa-e-Waqt) which amounts to a near-death toll for some papers. Musharraf has also used Pakistan-specific lack of editorial independence in media groups since most owners happened to be the editors. The de facto impunity granted to religious groups who intimidate human rights defenders, the lack of protection afforded to them and the lack of will to effectively modify legislation, such as the Blasphemy

10.

The systematic and deliberate slowness of justice for individuals perceived as inimical to the regime, thanks to a pliant judiciary, as a way to keep pressure on the dissidents.

In the Federal Administered Tribal Areas, where the combination of the outdated and severely repressive Frontier Crimes Regulation allows for collective punishment (against all international human rights standards), the military operations lead to the closure of some parts of the province to external observers, and a weight of traditional culture, has been particularly negative for freedom of expression.

Law, is severely damaging to freedom of expression. The occasional infiltration of NGOs, media groups and unions, or the creation of parallel structures as a means to “divide and rule”. The multiplication of administrative obstacles to the organisation of meetings, demonstrations and rallies, especially when organised by opposition parties. Treating problems as the law and order ones what really are political issues. The combination of the preceding measures and subtle restrictions has led to massive self-censorship on the part of the media outlets as well as journalists. An insidious subversion of human rights and their vocabulary to impose restrictions on dissident groups. “The need for accountability” as a prelude to, and a pretext for, the NGO bill which appears intent on curbing NGO activities. The establishment of pro-governmental human rights organisations (“Gongos”), and of human rights units within various ministries, which produce their own reports and assessments, the appointment of former NGO activists in the government to undermine genuine human rights organisations.

I would like to underscore how Pakistan's government, like others in the region, has skilfully turned to his advantage the very shortsighted approach of the United States and its allies in leading the war against terrorism, using it as a means both to find a badly needed legitimacy on the international stage, and to strengthen its hold on power. The authorities have thus over the years created an atmosphere, both within the political arena, the media and within civil society, in which fundamental freedoms are considered as privileges and not rights. Freedom of expression is definitely one of the victims of 9/11 all over the world, and Pakistan is but one example among many countries.

Overview: Session III

he deliberations by journalists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal focused on independent role of the media in promoting the reconciliation process and understanding among the people in the region. Mr Mahbub Alam from Bangladesh pointed out Indo-Bangladesh irritants like push-in push-back, Indian water-link project and Indian allegation against Bangladesh for supporting anti-Indian insurgents, an allegation Dhaka always denied. Alam said that instead of writing on the briefs of intelligence agencies or unnamed official sources, journalists should make investigate reporting particularly on sensitive issues between India and Bangladesh and find out the truth on the ground. He also suggested that anti-dumping measures by India against Bangladeshi products be removed to increase the trade between Dhaka and seven northeastern states of India and thereby reduce the yawning trade gap. Mahbubul Alam said India being a big neighbour should take the lead in fostering good relations with her smaller neighbours and foster understanding and cooperation. Mr Khaled Ahmed said that nationalisms would have to be subverted. “Only then we can move towards an impulse for reconciliation. Ms Rita Manchanda from India said that dominant mass media have tended to be conservative and follow the lead of the more intransigent bureaucracy and intelligence agencies. “While the South Asian establishment is slowly paying more heed to regional frameworks for security and development interventions, it has been resistant even hostile to the growth of civil society regional solidarities. The media, however, has been out of step with these processes, notwithstanding SAFMA. Regional satellite footprint has the potential to foster a regional media community but we seem still trapped in competitive national media frames.” Mr M K Dhar from India said the South Asian countries needed to get out of the switch-on-switch-off relationship. “Nationalistic positions should not affect reconciliation,” he said adding that media are following the leaders who have decided on treading the course of peace and reconciliation. Vinod Sharma, the moderator, said times were changing. “There is need for the civil society to make the

governments more sensitive to sharing their responsibilities with them,” he said. “We should ensure nobody is above the law. We must promote specialisations in the writing,” he said emphasising that foreign affairs was a subject foreign ministries were better placed to handle. Mr Iqbal Sobhan Chaudhary from Bangladesh said the media particularly of India and Pakistan should rise above the “official line” and make independent reports and observations based on the people's will to ensure reconciliation among the SAARC countries. Mr Imtiaz Alam said the independent media should make it difficult for the state spin doctors to vitiate the atmosphere. He cited a set of guidelines the Safma had developed on how not to report a conflict how to strengthen reconciliation. He said media should not allow the peace process to derail and should stand against a government that deviates from the path of peace. Mr KK Katyal from India said the media needed to dish out various viewpoints without encouraging a conflict. Some discussants argued to ease visa regime for South Asians for travelling to the member states following the example set by Sri Lanka and Nepal that issue on arrival visa to the SAARC nationals. They welcomed President Musharraf's announcement allowing South Asian journalists to visit any part of Pakistan.

oreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri addressed Session III of the conference. Following are excerpts:

I see light at the end of the tunnel as there is a major constituency for peace on both sides. The state of relations is on the mend. There is a need to move from a 'no war, no peace' situation to an irreversible process that gives long-term genuine and durable peace. Both nations must work towards a win-win situation rather than a no war no peace scenario as that can easily get them into war at a very short notice. There would be grey areas and glitches but we have to live with them. There are grey areas in our relations with each other and if I may say so, they are best left grey. We are committed to peace, but we want peace with honour. It is necessary to involve the people of Kashmir as they could help India and Pakistan to find solutions to the problems between them. I have interacted with both the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance governments in India and am confident that they want peace as much as Pakistan does. But there is a need for a multi-faceted approach and the media can play a constructive role. South Asian Free Media Association has to play an important role as a grouping with chapters in almost all the Saarc member countries. The government has taken several steps to break the shackles of gagging laws to free the media in Pakistan. Our media have matured into a responsible channel to champion the cause of social justice, good governance, peace and prosperity. I have invited Bharatiya Janata Party President L K Advani to visit Pakistan. Nothing can take the credit away from former prime minister of India, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who took the peace initiative. The

same applied to Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif, former prime ministers of Pakistan. There is a need to transcend a partisan divide. All opposition parties in the two countries should keep the India-Pakistan dialogue away from their partisan politics since it is proceeding well. There is a need for developing a degree of tolerance and objectivity in Indo-Pak relations. However, a solution without Kashmiris would not ensure lasting peace as it would be peace without honour. The last 57 years have taught us that neither side can impose its will on the other. It does enrage us when we read about attacks on our policies in Indian newspapers but it is necessary to remember that they have also created diplomatic room for us. The last SAARC meeting was very positive as it resulted in signing of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). The bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar is expected to become a reality very soon. It will have a major effect on the current relations between India and Pakistan. There are positive vibes from both sides and our attitude to the bus service will be positive. Just as the Neemrana meet near New Delhi had some years ago resulted in the start of the bus service between India and Pakistan, the SAFMA meet here could herald signals for the start of the MuzaffarabadSrinagar bus service. This is not just a bus service but the start of a new process. The first bus that plies between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar should carry important leaders from both sides of Kashmir as this will send very positive signals. Talks on the gas pipeline between Iran and India passing through Pakistan are expected to start soon and will be a major confidence building measure.

I assure this gathering of our government's support to SAFMA and its agenda. We will support a likewise regime for free movement of journalists, as President Pervez Musharraf has also announced yesterday, and SAFMA's association with Saarc as an apex regional body. I have held a long discussion with Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar during my recent visit to India. We have made substantial progress on the issue. Some of the participants particularly from India think President Musharraf was angry. He was not angry. He may have been pained. But I know he is committed to peace. South Asia has had its share of conflicts, tensions and disputes. In the past, our energies have remained focused on managing them. There is a need for transcending the differences in the region and for making effort towards uplifting the quality of its people. As the Chairperson of Saarc during the last one year, Pakistan has taken several initiatives in its endeavour to promote regional cooperation. There is, of course, a general realization that Pakistan-India relations have a bearing on the overall pace of regional cooperation in South Asia. We believe that cooperation within SAARC is not only desirable but also a vital objective. SAARC could be made an effective forum like ASEAN if the India-Pakistan dispute could be resolved with the satisfaction of all parties-Pakistan, India and Kashmiris. What we need in South Asia is an effort to bring the hearts of the people together. The people of South Asia crave for peace. They are our greatest asset in promoting reconciliation in South Asia.

Reconciliation and media in South Asia

but the impulse would soon come unstuck, were it not for the growing popular consciousness within of the need for reconciliation. In particular, the myriad of people to people initiatives, including business interest groups, incrementally have played a critical role in fostering an understanding that confrontation strengthens antidemocratic and fundamentalist forces in both countries and is particularly oppressive for women and minority rights. That 'jehadi' politics and a national security pathology undermines fundamental freedoms and destabilizes our societies and an obsessive 'win and lose' paradigm shrinks strategic diplomatic and economic possibilities. Ten years ago, against the backdrop of rising war jingoism, when the Pakistan Indian Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFD) launched a pioneering experiment in people to people exchanges, it was mocked as fanciful. Today people to people exchanges have become the new mantra for revitalizing and transforming the old orthodoxies that entrapped us in an adversarial relationship. An index of their power is their incorporation in the formal agenda of the Indo-Pakistan composite dialogue.

ur politicians, quick to sense the groundswell of 'popular sentiment' for rapprochement, have been invoking the refrain of 'public opinion' to voice the rhetoric of reconciliation and consent to a scaffolding of CBMs in relations to the most intractable of South Asian conflicts, the Indo- Pakistan confrontation. In the wasteland of mutual intransigence on the 'core' issue of Kashmir the buzzword of 'flexibility' is opening up the possibility of exploring options. The linearity of the 'zero sum' realist paradigm is being intersected by the possibility of a mutuality of economic interest in the proposed Iran- PakistanIndia gas pipeline. As the bureaucratic barriers are inched lower, weekly there is an outcrop of people to people exchanges 'A Youth Initiative for Peace' that brings young students to Lahore or 'Pilgrims from Pakistan' allowed for the first time to visit the Kashmir valley.

However, the dominant mass media has tended to be conservative and follow the lead of the more intransigent bureaucracy and intelligence agencies. When not fostering war jingoism in moments of crisis following the Dec 13, 2001 attack on Parliament or reporting the intermittent fire fights on the LOC as a 'tug of war' denuded of politics thus emphasising the inevitability of violence and essential hostility much of the media has been quick to take its story line of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) involvement from sources that have privileged access to intelligence information that cannot be verified. Still there is a noticeable restraint or conscious toning down in the use of the media to orchestrate a campaign to blame the ISI as for example in the recent bomb blasts in North East India and something of a similar restraint vis a vis RAW in Pakistan.

The keys to war or peace between India and Pakistan may to an extent be forged in Washington,

If along the dominant axis of conflict in the region there is a

thaw, the Indo-Bangladesh border is increasingly becoming a site for violent 'face offs' in the confrontation over push in and push outs of 'Bangladeshi migrants' with October 2004 incident just the latest in an escalating pattern of violent clashes and mounting tension over a borderland (a zone of transition and blurred identities) that is becoming more and more militarzied. It is intertwined with insidious theories of demographic conspiracies aimed at destabilizing the North East and producing a Greater Bangladesh. These theories get substantial play in national dailies but there is little counter discourse to interrogate the pauperization of Bangladeshi peasant, e.g.the denuding of agricultural land of the Ganges delta following the construction of the Farakka dam and consequently the blame politics against India. Moreover, with the textile quota regime ending in December as per WTO guidelines, and India and China likely to wipe out Bangladesh (and Sri Lanka) from the open competition, 'illegal' migration can only increase. Moreover, deteriorating Indo-Bangladesh relations is relentlessly producing violence on 'hostage' minorities within and strengthening fundamentalist forces. (Hindu Bangladeshi migrants are called refugees in the media). Ironically, journalist Afsan Chowdhury notes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;in the Bangladeshi and Bengal (India) imagination, the border is not (sic) that of overt hostility. There is even a common feeling that the Indian border soldiers who kill Bangladeshi intruders are imported from the Kashmir borders. Borders don't play a major role in constructing self-images, through highlighted differences, of nationhoodâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;? The other side of the border is not full of 'others'. However these contradictions of blurred identities as symbolised by the 213 nomadic snake charmers trapped in No Man's Land in January 2003 being pushed out and pushed in by the security forces on both sides, are giving way to aggressive exclusivist identity politics. The media, for one, framed the human tragedy within competing nationalisms as threatening territorial integrity. Curiously as with the most serious of border incidents to date the April 2001 clash in which 12 BSF jawans were killed, there was no routine of border reporting that involved news gathering from both sides of the border, instead the story line was determined by political partisanship and intelligence agencies.

The media and the think tanks have been complicit in constructing a discursive slippage that has transformed the desperately poor Bangladeshi illegal migrant into an 'infiltrator' and a potential 'terrorist' said to be (by intelligence sources) recruited in madrassas in Bangladesh and Karachi to be used as ISI agents. The media quoting intelligence sources and bolstered by statements of ministers has blamed the August blasts in the north-east of India on insurgent groups based in Dhaka directed by the ISI. Dhaka's reaction is that if there are 199 Indian insurgent camps in Bangladesh, there are 27 Bangladeshi insurgent camps in India. The two governments have talked about initiating co-ordinated joint action a la Bhutan and the raid on ULFA camps. The dominant Indian media went along in turning its back on the human story of violence against 'civilian' women and children or in interrogating involvement of Indian troops. Reporting at a distance inevitably makes you dependent on intelligence sources and officials that lead to supporting militarist responses. Also by hollowing out politics from armed struggles, violence is being reinforced by the media as violence for violence sake, that is, a law and order problem. Take the nine-year-old Maoist insurgency in Nepal to overthrow the Constitutional Monarchy that after the October 2002 takeover has become ruling monarchy. India has promised all out military support against the 'Peoples War' because its own security concerns are at stake. In the process India has ended up supporting anti-democratic forces the King and Royal Army in the name of supporting constitutional forces. Its military aid of helicopters is being used as gun ships to bomb civilian targets like schools, admittedly taken over by the Maoists to stage cultural programmes for school children and villagers. It is arming and training an Army that has made Nepal the worst offender on enforced disappearances. Moreover, in the name of stamping out 'global terrorism' it has joined the US in backing the Palace and Army in privileging a militarist policy. India is being committed to a militarist policy without any real informed debate in the public sphere or

open civil society engagement of its implications for the Nepali diaspora in India. 'Left Wing Extremism' has in the last few years climbed to the top of the agenda next only to Kashmir and the North-East with 120 districts in India said to be affected. Cross border linkages exist between the Nepali and Indian Maoist groups and a Coordination Committee was set up CCOMPOSA in Bihar a couple of years ago. However, think tanks headed by retired generals, police and intelligence officials have been working overtime with theories of a 'Compact Revolutionary Zone' strategy and mapping 'terrorist networks that link the Nepali Maoist with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam! The Indian and Nepali media have for the most part reproduced without scepticism such information supplied by privileged sources and camouflaged them as facts. Moreover, on both sides of the border the mainstream media has reported on the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) essentially within a law and order paradigm. In the case of Nepal, the media has parroted the Kathmandu elite in trivializing the 'Peoples War' as aimed at seeking a safe landing in mainstream politics. Following the official (US & India mediated) line, they are branded as 'terrorists'. What about questions like - Do the Maoists enjoy support or is it only coercive power and fear? Is the question even relevant to ask given that the Maoists are said to control 60 % of Nepal where the presence of the state has ceased to exist except for the occasional visit by a security contingent. Are politics in control or is there war-lordism? The Nepali Maoists are accused of 'extortion' they claim its taxation; of 'abductions' they claim they are arrests with trials in peoples courts and summary judgement/ executions. Arguably it's a high risk environment, but these questions need to be engaged with in a fair and accurate manner if the conflict is to be politically tackled. When Indian media notices Nepal, it is often a case of parachute journalism as evinced during the coverage of the Maoist blockade of the Kathmandu valley last September. Whereas the Nepali media followed the official spin and downplayed the effectiveness of the blockade, India print and TV journalists

hyped it as if within a day of the blockade food supplies had disappeared and people were terrified to step out of doors. Indeed, one of the features of the Maoist insurgency is that the people of Kathmandu remain relatively cocooned from the conflict. The blockade was too brief to change that. However, that did not stop a very senior Indian official to test the waters by putting out a story of 'bread bombing' of Nepal. It evoked memories of India's Sri Lanka peace keeping misadventure which too began with aerial dropping of food parcels. The conspiracy of silence on the part of the Indian media on the training of the Tamil militant groups (as too the Mukti Bahini) led to a policy that destabilized Sri Lanka and sucked India into the disastrous IPKF intervention. Eighteen years later, India and Sri Lanka are entering into a defence agreement that under the circumstances will bolster the Sri Lankan navy's capacity to intercept the 'LTTE Navy' with implications for the fragile peace accord. As then and now, debate is limited while the consequences substantial. Till the change in government in Sri Lanka the pro-government media has been under pressure to do pro peace reporting and even play down violations. And the opposition aligned media has been focusing on ceasefire violations, continuing recruitment of child soldiers and stigmatising the anti-democratic culture of the LTTE. It's a selective frame for violations have been on both fronts but rarely has the dominant media in Sri Lanka and India projected the peace process as an opportunity for democratising the island's politics as a whole. Finally, at the level of civil society there has been a significant awareness of the need for regional frameworks to address the issue of migration, minorities, refugees, insurgency -counterinsurgency and its concomitants violation of human rights and draconian laws. This is evinced in the growing number of regional initiatives SAFHR, WIPSA, SAHR, SAP, SACP, SAFMA, etc. While the South Asian establishment is slowly paying more heed to regional frameworks for security and development interventions, it has been resistant even hostile to the growth of civil society regional solidarities. For example, regional

nder nationalism, Pakistani media tend to 'combat' the media in India. In this sense, print journalism and television/radio are a part of the 'adversarial' paraphernalia of the state. In print journalism, English tends to play the part of a partial 'deflator' of the founding myths of the state. Those who write in English are at times exposed to points of view outside the national narratives of the region. In Pakistan, it is the English-language press that partly seeks to align itself with the forces that seek reconciliation with India. The Urdu press is more completely a part of the 'combative' assertion of the state vis-Ă -vis India. The Urdu press will be read by more people than the English-language press and it will be addressed more by 'nationalists' ready to give battle than by 'rationalists' trying to achieve reconciliation. The religious parties who dominate the Urdu discourse in Pakistan, also address the Urdu press exclusively in the name of the national narrative, appealing to the journalist to fight the battle for the homeland. Pakistani journalism is by and large engaged in combating the Indian nationalist narrative. The English-language press is open to opinion which violates the national narrative; but the English-language press is residually still linked to nationalism. The media and the clashing narratives: The electronic media in the private sector is intensely Islamised because of the market demand for it. It is the venue where Pakistani nationalism and its anti-India orientation is clearly expressed. Ironically the state-owned TV is less intensely anti-India and less ideological these days because the state is trying to seek accommodation with India in violation of the indoctrination it has been supporting in the past. In a way the roles are reversed. TV remains the domain of Urdu discourse. Urdu remains the most complete medium of Pakistani nationalism. In so far as this nationalism is based predominantly on an anti-India narrative, the TV channels are unable to formulate an effective strategy of reconciliation. In the interim period the period in which India and Pakistan are using ambivalence to hide their real intent from their public they support 'normalisation' between India and Pakistan. Yet

when politicians break out of ambiguity periodically the media immediately revert to their posture of non-reconciliation. Exchange of visits among journalists has only partially removed the angularities on the Pakistani side, especially among Urdu journalists. Instead of being disarmed by discussions that introduce new strands into the national narrative on both sides, they tend to become defensive. After a SAFMA media conference in New Delhi in October 2004, the following views were expressed by Urdu columnists. A columnist wrote that in an attempt to estrange Kashmiris from Pakistan, India organised a visit of Pakistani journalists to Jammu and Kashmir. A selection was made for the group that would visit Kashmir but this group lacked credibility and was unable to elicit the loyalty of the Kashmiris. He said that qabil-e-etamad (trustworthy) journalists were not included in the delegation. He wanted to go to the Indian-administered Kashmir to see and breathe the air full of the smell of blood of martyrs killed by Indian troops. He wanted to see the stains of the holy blood offered by the Kashmiri youth. He wanted to hear the mourning of the widows the sisters of

narrative on the basis of competition. Pakistan and India have competing nationalisms that feed upon each other. (Indian and Pakistani films show opposite scenarios of partition and war.) India's nationalism is shaped out of the nature of the Indian state and its establishment in the tragic circumstances of separatism and partition. Indian opinion casts aspersion on the foundation of Pakistan through its non-acceptance (even if friendly) of the borders that separate the two countries. There is also the fear factor operating in Pakistan the fear of relapse into what was once India. This contributes to an intensification of the opposed narrative in what one philosopher has called 'surplus phenomenology of identity' already inherited by Pakistan as a Muslim nation. Kashmir who had seen their children and husbands killed by the Indian troops. He wanted to die on the holy soil (sarzamin) of Kashmir. He stated that India was a khatarnak parosi (dangerous neighbours) who was now thinking of oonchi uran (high flight) at the global level and did not want its smaller neighbours to pull its leg while it was at it. India had disputes with all its neighbours where it was fomenting revolts, diverting river waters and interfering in internal affairs. It was hated for its ill intentions (bad-niyyati). India wanted its neighbours to be reduced to the plight of the Muslims living inside India. It was being supported by some Indian pimps inside Pakistan (bharati gumashtay). A journalist commenting on a column said that a senior columnist in Urdu had complained that when Pakistani journalists addressed a seminar in New Delhi they were clad in chamkilay (shining) suits and chamkili neckties while the Indian journalists were clad in their national dress, pajama and kurta of khaddar. The Indian journalists looked impressive while the Pakistani side did not.

Conclusion: The media in Pakistan represent Pakistan's nationalism. This means that the master narrative as well as the 'painful birth syndrome' is purveyed through it. This nationalism is predominantly anti-India. Its anti-American aspects are also related to India because of America's guilt in not honestly supporting Pakistan against India during wars. The umma aspect of Pakistani nationalism, which demonises America, is actually a transnational phenomenon and negates the nation-state and as such cannot be included in the master narrative. There is space enough within Indian nationalism to fortify this

With normalisation of relations between Pakistan and India and the state for once not insistent on its 'founding principle' the intensity of the media rivalry is bound to become less intense. No national narrative remains constant India's changed from secular to Hindu and today shows two parallel strands in Indian thinking about the state secular and communal. If the media are allowed to operate across the border Indian and Pakistani newspapers selling 'on the other side' and the TV channels collecting advertisement revenue on 'the other side' the rivalry will subside considerably on the principle of free market. Today newspapers know that they would not be read on the other side. They are also blocked from commercial revenues from each other's market. This allows them to be excessively vitriolic. This also applies to the TV news channels not doing business in the 'enemy country'. Were the revenues to be affected by nationalist outpourings, the media would change their behaviour. More frequent exposure of the Urdu and Hindi journalists, including those employed in the newsrooms, can help defuse some of the intensity in the

SAARC and

international concern, a breakthrough was made during the bilateral talks between the then Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President General Parvez Musharraf. They agreed to initiate confidence building measures (CBMs) and embark on a composite dialogue on all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, which has defied solution for over half a century. Both countries now seem keen to promote peace through dialogue at different levels. On March 21, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (then finance minister) while addressing the members of an Indian trade delegation stressed the need for creating an atmosphere more conducive to reducing the trust deficit in the India-Pakistan relations.

hen SAARC was formally launched in Dhaka in December 1985, it was contemplated that this regional body would meet once a year and provide an opportunity to member countries to address the problems that call for regional cooperation. It generated optimism that a new beginning could perhaps be made towards meeting the objectives. But in the past 20 years only 12 summits have taken place and the organisation has moved at a snail's pace, somewhat dampening the spirit that inspired the nations to join the forum. The Islamabad Summit, however, proved successful. The high point of the summit was the signing of South Asian Free Trade Agreement, SAFTA, and the additional protocol on terrorism, a thorny issue that has bedevilled relations among the SAARC members, particularly between India and Pakistan. Ups and downs in relations between India and Pakistan, the two major players in the SAARC and the nuclear armed adversaries slowed down the forward movement of the SAARC. Indo-Pakistan confrontation over Kargil had pushed the two countries to the brink of a nuclear conflict. Thanks to the foresight and political sagacity of the leadership of both countries and mounting

SAARC has begun to get over certain hurdles created by history. The region is riven by conflicts, hence mutual hostility and suspicion: three wars between India and Pakistan, the liberation war that Bangladesh fought in 1971 and the prolonged civil war in Sri Lanka. It is said that trade is the path breaker of peace. If the countries of the region are able to develop a strong mutual stake in economic development, peace would consequently receive a boost. Economic cooperation and peace are mutually reinforcing. Peace encourages economic cooperation and common economic interest and interdependence strengthen the motivation for peace. Bilateral issues are not to be raised at the SAARC. But it so happens that some SAARC summits, notably the Islamabad summit, have indirectly contributed to easing of bilateral tensions. Indo-Pakistan dialogues on the sidelines of SAARC summit have often outshone the summit itself in importance. However, these meetings of leaders and discussions on the sideline have vitally helped better understanding among the countries involved. This is not unexpected, since the prospects for South Asian economic development largely hinges on Indo-Pakistan relations. Moreover, the nuclearisation of India and Pakistan has enormously increased the stake in peace, not only of these two countries but of the entire region. Where governments of the two countries have faltered, intellectuals and media persons there have consistently urged the strengthening of SAARC. In the meantime, travelling of citizens among the member countries of SAARC has increased. (Travellers from SAARC countries were already entitled to air fare concession if

their itinerary connected two or more SAARC countries). Although historical factors are blamed for holding back genuine regional cooperation since it is interpreted subjectively. In other words, the psychological factors are to be addressed. Confidence building is a slow and laborious process. It is very necessary that people-to-people contact be made easier. Even in these days of free flow of information very little exchange of books and magazines takes place between India and Pakistan or for that matter between the SAARC nations. All the SAARC-related activities flow from decisions taken at summits. Non-official initiatives need to be encouraged. With time the relevance of South Asian cooperation will not decrease but increase. New agenda like flood control and water management and environment may assume towering importance. The countries of the region, for environmental or other reasons, are becoming more and more subject to periodic inundation alternated by scarcity of water. And water is on the way to becoming a critical issue world-wide. Another emerging problem which will need regional approach is renewable and environmentalfriendly energy. The membercountries have much to profit by exchanging experience on development of energy sources like water, wind, solar and natural gas. Sometime ago the SAARC Technical Committee on energy agreed on forming a regional power grid connecting Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal; but nothing more has been heard of it.

Although some regional activity took place in sports, cooperation in culture and tourism is quite slow. There is a wide scope for book publishing, especially when printing industry in these countries has made phenomenal progress. The SAARC Book Development Council organises occasional book fairs but more needs to be done. An all-engaging problem that perturbs every country is security and terrorism. Are these maters beyond the ambit of SAARC, even when they have multilateral dimension? Some quarters say that SAARC should evolve a regional security framework and try to work out a joint nuclear arms management. Terrorism flourishes in poverty (which tends to marginalise large segments of people) and perpetuates tension. An intensified development effort under the aegis of SAARC will indirectly help to ease tension and even the longstanding regional problems. President Musharraf's recent remarks on Kashmir have triggered a debate. But there are others who consider it as a window of opportunity for a fresh round of dialogue. Pakistan must continue with its war against terrorism and India as

Conflict in Nepal

epal has been in the news for nearly a decade now for violence. Communist party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) has spearheaded an armed struggle to set up a Communist Republican regime in place of constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. More than 10,000 people, including civilians, security personnel and the Maoist guerrillas, have died in the conflict since 1996. People in thousands have been displaced and forced to migrate to relatively safer Indian states or Nepal's urban areas. Hundreds of children have been affected by the conflict suggesting that a displaced and orphaned generation would constitute a large part of the population if violence continues for another 10 to 15 years. Maoists, at the outset tried to project, at least theoretically, all the grievances by promising ethnic self-rule, in place before King Prithvi Narayan Shah's 1769 military takeover. They tried to address discontent and grievances from one platform to pose an unprecedented challenge to the establishment. The conflict has divided the society. The civil society wants a peaceful settlement of the conflict. If the issues raised by the current conflict are not settled through negotiation, there are fears Nepalese society could go through a militarised process which could only make the conflict more intense and violent. Nepal had been ruled by an absolute monarchy and partyless political system since 1960 without a constitutional provision that recognized freedom of expression as a fundamental right of a citizen. The 1991 constitution, which was propelled by a brief mass upsurge against the political system, replaced the old system by multi-party democracy and the constitutional monarchy.

until Nov 2001 when the country was put under the state of emergency and Maoists declared a 'terrorist' outfit. The CPN-M still bears the tag and it has not been able to publish its publicity organs now, but Nepalese media (except the one in the government sector) do give prominent space to viewpoint of the Maoists and events related to them. But the government and the Maoists both are targeting the media. In the past three years, at least 21 journalists -- some of them with clear involvement in the Maoist activities -- have been killed. Many journalists who were arrested and harassed were released following pressure from journalists and human rights groups. Maoists who killed one journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa recently were forced to apologise and withdraw the threat to annihilate 10 others. But can the media work 'without fear' or 'favour'? The powers that be often blame media for supporting the Maoists movement and the politics of violence. However, except the CPN-M media organs, hardly any media have supported violence. NGOs growth and their interaction with the media have changed the focus of Nepalese media from politics to socio-economic issues. That means getting into the gap between different strata. The Nepalese media will have to deal with the cause of conflict. But will the government acknowledge the causes and address them? Will the Maoists seek a resolution taking into account the aspiration of a democratic world in the 21st century, longing of the Nepalese people for durable peace and prosperity?

The constitution now guarantees and safeguards freedom of expression as the fundamental right. There has also been growth and healthy development of the media to professionalism, though slower than desired. More than 3,000 newspapers and periodicals are registered with the government. Nearly half of them perhaps do not come in the promised frequency. Many of those published have their biases on social, political and ethnic issues. Most broad-sheet newspapers and influential magazines come out from the capital and favour no radical change in the system. They, however, want a peaceful solution to the conflict through negotiations, preferably with the internal initiatives. But Nepal's conflict and the role of media is different from that seen in India or Sri Lanka. The CPN-M, an underground party, ran commercial newspapers as its propaganda machinery without attracting any punitive action by the government

Media and in Sri Lanka

ri Lanka, in its two-decade long bloody ethnic conflict, is enjoying the longest ceasefire ever for the 33rd consecutive month. Though it is generally termed a ceasefire, a better description is 'a situation where neither peace nor war exists.' Reconciliation plays a major part in any process that leads to peace. In countries such as South Africa and East Timor where comprehensive peace efforts brought fruitful results, authorities took extraordinary measures for reconciliation, sometimes establishing separate institutions for the purpose. Sri Lanka is yet to reach such a vibrant stage with regard to reconciliation. Nevertheless, both major parties to the conflict, the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have shown great interest in bridging the gap and building trust which has been damaged for over half a century. Sri Lanka's contemporary history, no doubt, would identify President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as the first

Sinhala leader to publicly accept the grievances of Tamils and take drastic measures for reconciliation a decade ago. Prior to commencing direct talks with the LTTE she lifted the embargo on most essential items to the North and took several more compromising steps. However, the 'honeymoon' did not last long. Things did not work in the way that many expected. Chandrika narrowly escaped at attempt on her life by a suicide bomber, but paid a heavy price by losing an eye. Former prime minister Ranil Wikremasinghe of United National Party (UNP) took over the process from Chandrika in 2002 and initiated historic steps of reconciliation in Lankan history. All sorts of embargoes were lifted and prisoner swaps took place as initial confidence building efforts. The international community came forward boldly to make the process stable and viable through political and economic assistance. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on February 22, 2002 was not affected by the change of the Colombo regime in April 2004, as many expected. Both sides indicate their seriousness about re-entering the negotiating process amid many stumbling blocks that need to be ironed out before any further progress. With the advent of the current peace process, the reconciliation process has primarily been focused on increasing the awareness of and sensitivity to reconciliation among those parties, stakeholders and institutions involved in the process, and on generating options for reconciliation. Though such a process should take the shape of academic exercises and bring together official actors, civil society and the public at large involving every strata of society, Sri Lanka is yet to witness such an exercise at a higher political level. Whatever took place with the initiatives of serious efforts for peace in 1994 was limited to political party frameworks. President Kumaratunga recently convened the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation, which has three sub-committees consisting of representatives from religious, political and civil society spheres. It has conducted a couple of meetings so far, but observers have pointed out that it would be futile exercise if both the main Opposition UNP and the Tamil National Alliance, which by and large represents the interests of the LTTE, continue to keep away from the proceedings. Their participation is seen as essential if the NACPR is to achieve some sort of progress on the path to reconciliation. Reconciliation works on the premise of dealing with a painful past and envisioning an interconnected future which are two vital elements for building constructive relations among people and communities that will in turn offer the best chance for a sustainable

peace. Media influence in reshaping the mindset of players and societies at large is undeniable. However, Sri Lanka never saw its media engaging in conflict resolution since independence. The traditional media structure in Sri Lanka, during a three-decade period, has created two main extreme segments the state run pro-government media which could be considered a quasi-propaganda machine for the government and the political party (or coalition) in power and the highly popular private media which is primarily anti-LTTE and also, on most occasions, anti-government. The policies of the state media are subjected to change with the change of regimes in Colombo, which has now become a regular feature. The editorial thinking of the private media is extensively dominated by the political interest and personal allegiance of the ownership or the management which is mostly against a

political dialogue with the LTTE. Therefore, the highly divided media on ethno-linguistic lines, especially the Sinhala press, have never been in favour of any form of reconciliation between the two warring parties. Catering to extremist elements seeking mere economic and political gains, these media institutions continue to satisfy the aspirations of SinhalaBuddhist extremism. The private, and especially, the vernacular press, has almost completely ignored the NACPR, which rather negates the purpose for which it was created to involve the public in the peace process. State-owned newspapers have given more publicity to it, but it was only marginally better. It is ironic that norms such as balanced reporting and the integrity of Sri Lankan media are being dominated by mere personal interests and short-sighted political gains. This does not mean that there are no exceptions. Peace-loving Sri Lankans are beginning to witness the emergence of a change in the attitude of some media organizations, especially in the private sector. Even that is a significant achievement, considering the complexity of the issue and ingrained attitudes among journalists and press barons.

order to move towards an assured, permanent peace in the country. Reconciliation and the Peace Process

in Reconciliation process in Sri Lanka

A part of the difficulty in this task is the hard reality of large scale social trauma that is the result of large scale violence over a long period: (a) Firstly, even if people are no longer engaged in armed conflict today, the rivalries, the hatreds, the sorrow, the psychological scars, the socio-economic deprivations, and the marginalisation yet prevail.

Lakshman Gunasekara Introduction Peace in Sri Lanka appears closer to being a reality today more than ever before in the past 20 years. Already, there is a relative peace in the form of a cessation of armed hostilities between the two principal protagonists in the civil war that tore the country apart over the past twenty five years. This has come about due to the Cease-Fire Agreement signed in February 2002 between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the fighting organisation of the social movement for Tamil self-determination. The CFA 2002 has resulted in a halt to the full-scale war that has raged for two decades and an insurgency and counter-insurgency that had preceded it. But the armed conflict was but the result of the failure of the country's political institutions to effectively resolve the sharp conflict of interest and rivalry for power and resources between the country's two strongest ethnic communities - the Sinhala and Tamil communities. Ultimately, the severity of the war resulted in the third significant ethnic community, the Moors, or the Muslims, as they are popularly known being unwittingly and unwillingly dragged into the conflict. But this cease-fire is only a suspension of armed hostilities. Like three other previous cease-fires over the past fifteen years, this cease-fire too does not pretend to, nor is intended to, actually resolve the ethnic conflict. A permanent solution to the ethnic conflict needs to be negotiated between all interested parties and, already, there is a general acknowledgement by most political leaderships, if not the bulk of the population of all ethnic communities, that such a permanent settlement requires major constitutional reform, probably a fundamental restructuring of the post-colonial Sri Lankan polity. It is this task that is the most difficult hurdle to be overcome in

(b) Secondly, the fundamental socio-cultural inequities that prompted the war remain and so do the new community aspirations that have arisen as a result of these inequities. These conditions mean that the process towards achieving a permanent peace is not merely one of political negotiations. It is also necessarily a parallel process of social reconciliation to heal the bleeding wounds in this 20-million-strong but hugely divided society. Thus peace and reconciliation must go hand in hand and are complementary. The onset of political negotiations is essential to build confidence between the two warring entities (the GOSL and the LTTE) so that the cease-fire is sustained and does not, yet again break down and prompt a resumption of the war. And it is the political negotiation process that will ultimately deliver the concrete content of a permanent political solution to the conflict. But political negotiations cannot progress towards new conceptions of the Sri Lankan polity and a new social compact between communities if there is no process of reconciliation between communities and, at least the beginning of new attitudes and relations between communities. The gradual rise of this new social consciousness will be the necessary sociopolitical endorsement of political negotiations and a political settlement.

nation-state, (2) repression of civilian dissent by Tamils by successive Sinhala-led governments and, (3) successive anti-Tamil pogroms. Thus, there is a clear foregrounding of the current war situation in a backdrop of broader social group conflict. The Sri Lankan State, from the first postIndependence Commonwealth Dominion status to the First Republic established in 1972 to the current Second Republic of 1978, has consistently been a polity that primarily served the interests of the numerically largest ethnic community, the Sinhalas and, gradually evolved into a mono-cultural polity that marginalised not only the non-Sinhala ethnic groups but also all the religious groups other than Buddhism which is virtually exclusively the religion

of the Sinhalas. Linguistic discrimination in favour of the dominance of the Sinhala language became endemic in all facets of the State, including the State-subsidised public education system. The very conception of Sri Lankan nationhood and cultural identity yet remains Sinhala-centric. Today, however, not only is there a requirement to transcend such ethno-centrity but also, that transcendence cannot be merely a pan-Sri Lankan, singular cultural identity anymore. Rather, there is now the need to recognise and accommodate parallel Tamil and Muslim ethno-political identities and this recognition will have to be configured in a new State structure that provide for such discrete nationalities, if not nations, within a confederal or federal type Sri Lankan political community. For a sustainable peace, on the one hand, the Sinhalas will have to reconcile themselves to a new conception of 'nation' and 'State' that either allocates separate exclusive 'national' identities parallel to each other and based on ethnic community demarcations or, at least, to extensively devolve regional sub-State structures that provide for distinctive ethnic identities while, at the same time, coming together to form a single federal republic politico-cultural identity. On the other hand, the Tamils will have to reconcile themselves to a lesser concept of self-determination that avoids the additional traumas of partitioning of the country. The Muslims, caught as they are between the two warring

What are the characteristics of a post-cease-fire reconciliation in Sri Lanka? There are many aspects and these may be clustered into two broad categories:(a) Social group hostility: underlying social attitudes towards relations between ethnic communities and self-understandings of communities in terms of their place and role in the larger Sri Lankan political community. (b) War tragedy and deprivations: immediate human tragedies due to severe violence and the continuing deprivations suffered by large groups of people due to military operations by both warring sides. Social Group Hostilities The people of South Asia are, by now, familiar with the short history of the Sri Lankan civil war and know of the ethnic community rivalry, initially between the Sinhalas and Tamils and subsequently the three way tensions between the Sinhalas, Tamils and Muslims. The actual separatist war resorted to by the Tamil armed secessionist movement was the culmination of decades of (1) structural marginalisation of the Tamil-speaking (Tamil, Muslim) as well other minority ethnic communities from the mainstream of the Sri Lankan

ethnic communities, will have to overcome their suspicions of both the Tamils and Sinhalas and learn to adjust to a secularising society that will provide a secure environment for cultural and religious plurality. War Trauma and Social Deprivation If the minorities had already suffered from the structural marginalisation and repression, the outbreak of war caused far greater trauma, especially for the Tamil people. At the same time, the Muslims as well as the Sinhalas and Sri Lankans of other communities also suffered considerably from deaths, injury, social dislocation and displacement, psychological trauma and social isolation, although it was certainly not on the scale of the suffering of the Tamils. All the typical problems of war are today present in Sri Lanka. There are more than a million displaced people. More than a hundred thousand people have been killed in the fighting and the social violence associated with it. This means millions more Sri Lankans have been affected as families who have suffered loss of kin. Tens of thousands have been injured and permanently maimed either physically or psychologically through armed combat or through imprisonment, hostagetaking and torture. Reconciliation here means restoring to the affected people at least some sense of wholeness. This means, on the one hand, judiciary and other administrative action to investigate and remedy human rights violations and to provide compensation of some form. Social support services such as counselling and community support is urgently needed for many. Those displaced people need to be quickly rehabilitated and provided with socio-economic security. The populations in areas affected by war need some alternatives to livelihoods blocked by military activity on either side. The Role of the Sri Lankan Mass Media The Sri Lankan mainstream mass media have, for long, been subjected to the accusation that they are guilty of helping cause the ethnic conflict. Most analysts of the Sri Lankan media have tended to come to this conclusion from various approaches. Studies of the media in peace activism have charged that market

compulsions have led the mass media to sensationalise the tragedies of the war and of incidents of ethnic violence on the one hand and, on the other, of over-dramatising military culture both in the North as well as the South. Studies of the media from sociological perspectives have concluded that the mass media, on the basis of their inextricable link with their linguistic audiences, have tended to create exclusive worlds of perception demarcated by ethnicity and community interests and identities. The mainstream mass media have also been accused of being simplistically proState and thereby failing to adequately communicate the concerns and aspirations of the more marginalised communities thereby, in turn, not helping suitable political decisionmaking and social perspectives that would have gone far in preventing the deterioration of the situation into war, and, more recently, delaying suitable decision-making that would have quickened and smoothened the peace process. The nature of the modern mass media, however, has also been seen as a tremendously useful instrument to also overcome some of the obstacles to peace. Media as ethnic bridge-builder The electronic media, namely television and radio, have already demonstrated their capacity to communicate to the sections of the population not directly affected by the war and the problems, needs and aspirations of those social groups that are directly affected. Thus, in recent years, especially after the 2002 cease-fire, there has been an increasing 'media traffic' that is conveying images and messages between the North and South. The Sinhalas are 'seeing' via television, the devastation of war suffered by the Tamil particularly in the North. This is crucial for the majority community to understand the power of the compulsions that have set the Tamil community on its path to self-determination. At the same time, the mass media have the capacity to build audience perceptions of themselves as linguistic and religious communities that are not in states of constant competition and hostility with the other communities in the country. The media are a key to the process of a new nation-building in which 'nationality' is not limited to one ethnic identity; where the Sri Lankan State can accommodate several national communities within a single, reformed political entity.

Dialogue, not bullet Chief of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and leader of the opposition, Maulana Fazlur Rahman addressed the concluding session of the conference in Urdu language. Following are the excerpts: Lahore declaration had opened a new chapter in Indo-Pak relations but the happenings in Kargil immediately after it raised serious questions about Pakistan's stand. Kargil, he said made Pakistan to be on defensive and it was difficult for the leadership of the country to clarify its position. It also showed different approaches of the political and military leadership of the country. For the success of talks, India and Pakistan should rise above typical blame game and desist from scoring points. It is time the two countries took the dialogue forward with an open heart and mind and demonstrated flexibility to their official stands. Kashmir is a national issue for Pakistan and we want its resolution in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions. We can talk something beyond plebiscite and try for a solution

that would be equally acceptable to all the three parties, India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. Kashmir can't be resolved by bullets but by dialogue only. Time is running out very fast. We should look out for other options than insisting on stated positions. Kashmiri leadership should be involved in the talks. If not, they should be kept so close to the process that they know what is going on between the two countries. The dialogue should be on political level and should not be left at the mercy of bureaucrats. Bureaucrats can't move beyond files and drawn lines. Politicians have the courage to explore new ways and paths. The efforts of former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee for resolving all disputes with Pakistan raised the expectations especially on Kashmir. But with the change of guard in Delhi these have considerably come down because Congress-led government wants to bring expectations on a par with the ground realities. When I met Sonia Gandhi last year, I felt that Congress was committed to peaceful and amicable resolution of the Kashmir issue. The changing world scenario after September 11 has made the world unipolar. However, the post 9/11 developments have shown that what is being called growth of terrorism has not been checked and instead it has further grown. It is now evident that war on Iraq had no justification and fingers are being raised on US action in Afghanistan. An intricate situation prevails in South Asia but Kashmir is a stumbling block in improving relations between the two major players of the region -- India and Pakistan. The rest of the region, I'm afraid to say, can't remain unaffected.

But the volume of such inter-community communication is no where near the volume the Sri Lankan mass media have the capacity to deliver. As an industry, the mass media has a far greater capacity to provide an exchange of viewpoints as well as information about group needs and perceptions, fears and aspirations. The true professionalism of the mass media as well as the industry's genuine commitment to making a contribution to democracy will only be demonstrated by the degree of its contribution toward building peace and reconciliation.

Consensus

Concluding remarks

Much remains

to be done

Aitzaz Ashan, MNA, PPPP leader Chaudhry Both India and Pakistan should focus on common things and build up a solid peace mechanism. Media would have to put in extra effort for highlighting commonalities among the people of both the countries. But admitting commonality between the two countries would not mean the merger of the two. Continuation of dialogue process between the two countries is a good sign, and it needs to be further enhanced.

Senator Mushahid Hussain, Secretary-General, Pakistan Muslim League

Tehmina Daultana, MNA , PML-N People on both sides want eradication of poverty and peace is a must for it. Both India and Pakistan need to sit together and solve their disputes. Understanding between the people of Pakistan and India will be possible only when they are allowed to interact with each other freely.

After the nuclearisation of the region, both countries have come at equal level as far as the option of waging a war is concerned. The Indians were not expecting Pakistan's response and were of the view that either Pakistan would not have a nuclear device or it would not be able to test it due to the US pressure. Apart from media-persons the decision-makers should also have better understanding of issues. Things, which have been taboos, are now being discussed and debated. In 1984, I had convened the first conference of Pak-India journalists as an effort to enhance understanding on both sides. Media in this region have a very important role to play. Pakistani journalists' courage to reject the official version of many issues and express their viewpoint is laudable.

he South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) has emerged in South Asia as an organisation that stands for peace in the region promoting free, fair and vibrant press. After successful conclusion of the fourth regional conference here in the historic city of Lahore, I am confident, SAFMA will be stronger, media practitioners in the region will feel proud to identify with it and we will get the official recognition of SAARC as an apex regional body of media. I am happy to recall the contribution of all our colleagues and friends towards making SAFMA what it is today, and the backing of our civil societies. The organisation that was born in the year 2000 in Islamabad has grown bigger courtesy the contributions of all, especially, Mr Imatiaz Alam, our secretary general, has infused dynamism into the organisation. South Asian countries that have huge resources and a market of close to one and a half billion people could collectively grow as a strong economic bloc had there been peace and stability in the region. But,

unfortunately, it did not so happen due to acrimony among the nations. The efforts for regional cooperation failed due to IndiaPakistan rivalry. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) could not grow due to frequent interruptions even in holding its routine meetings. We are meeting here at a time when the political climate in the region is showing signs of improvement and the tension seems to be de-escalating with the initiative to reestablish the missing links among the countries. It is especially heartening to note that India and Pakistan have made some progress towards reconciliation. They are now meeting occasionally, holding dialogue even on core and complex issues. If this effort continues, I am sure, reconciliation process will be hastened in South Asia. In other regions of the world, the nations have overcome their conflicts and are now using the amity for gathering collective strength to avoid marginalisation in globalisation. South Asia has no option but to follow the same strategy. This conference, I believe, will strengthen the reconciliation in the region. The media will play an important role in the process. At times a section of media plays negative role in establishing peace, trust and confidence in South Asia. This conference may discuss the modus operandi of organising the media for collective stand on establishing peace and resolution of conflicts in our region. I am delighted that in just five years SAFMA has gathered a good momentum. Yet much remains to be done.

SAFMA:

A dynamic media platform Secretary General's Report to 4th South Asian Free Media Conference

AFMA has grown into a dynamic media platform that can influence the media, civil societies, and policy and decision makers. It has been recognized by SAARC as an Associate Body, although it deserved the status of an Apex Regional Body of SAARC. However, External Affairs Minister of India, Shri Natwar Singh, and Foreign Minster of Pakistan, Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, have promised to jointly plead our case for association with SAARC as an Apex Regional Body in the next Council of Ministers meeting. Prime Minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse, and Foreign Minister of Bangladesh M. Morshed Khan have assured SAFMA of their support in achieving its goals.

Benefiting from the scholarly work done by the eminent South Asian experts, SAFMA has now evolved through a participatory process a South Asian Vision, i. e., A South Asia, respecting plurality of cultures, ethnicities, religions, nations and national borders, at peace with itself and other regions of the world, aware of its cohesive historical destiny and poised to take strides while facing the challenges of 21st Century and globalization by exploiting its immense potential and resources in the service of our collective progress, development and prosperity of our people who must become the master of their destiny in reshaping South Asia according to their dreams. A road map and Guidelines for Regional Cooperation have been framed by SAFMA's conference on 'Regional Cooperation in South Asia', held at Dhaka on August 24, 2004. Realizing the stumbling blocks of inter- and intra-state conflicts in the way of regional amity and cooperation, SAFMA's conferences on 'Interstate Conflicts in South Asia', held at New Delhi on October 9-10, and 'Intrastate Conflicts in South Asia', held at Colombo on November 6-7, discussed these conflicts and proposed quite innovative ideas to resolve these conflicts and pave the way for a lasting peace. Real efforts should now be focused on popularizing these ideas in the media, among the people and mainstream political forces. Not ignoring the gender inequalities, stereotyping and vulgar portrayal of gender in the media, SAFMA in collaboration with Sancharika Samuha organized a regional workshop in Kathmandu on June 26-27 which issued guidelines for media. Again the real issue is of dissemination of these guidelines among the media and setting new standards of treating women issues with humane considerations. SAFMA's efforts at making peace between India and Pakistan have encouraged the governments of both the countries to take confidence building measures and resume composite dialogue. The Pakistan-India Parliamentary Conference on 'Understanding, Confidence building and Conflict resolution', in particular, helped create a consensus, over the declaration of ceasefire across the Line of Control (LoC), withdrawal of troops from the international border, and the necessity to take confidence building measures, across all party divides in the subcontinent. And now, the exchange of journalists across the

LoC created an atmosphere that helped President Pervez Musharraf open a debate on various options over Kashmir and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the first step towards demilitarization by announcing a reduction in the deployment of troops across Jammu and Kashmir. Similar efforts are needed for media intervention in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, IndoBangladesh relations and the crisis in Nepal. For that to happen, SAFMA national chapters must prepare innovative plans for the next year. SAFMA is, however, yet to hold Second Indo-Pak Parliamentary Conference in New Delhi. It will hold First South Asian Parliament in March 2005 in Pakistan. SAFMA has persuaded member countries of SAARC to endorse its Protocol on 'Free Movement of Media-persons and Mediaproducts Across the South Asian Region'. It focused on India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, whose visa regimes are too restrictive, to relax their visa regimes. Requests to include SAFMA's Protocol on the agenda of the 13th SAARC Summit have been made to the SAARC Secretariat through Pakistan's Foreign Office and other foreign ministries. If we did effective lobbying with our governments, this issue would hopefully come on SAARC's agenda. As we meet at our 'Second SAARC Journalists Summit: South Asian Journalists Beyond Frontiers' at Dhaka on January 6-7, 2005, we will persuade the member countries of SAARC to accept our demand for access to and free flow of information, including free movement of journalists and media products across borders. Similarly, we will formally place our Protocol on Freedom of information on the record of SAARC, so that a process is initiated to adopt it as a Covenant of SAARC to overcome information deficit. Following in the footsteps of SAFMA, Pakistan, who in its Second National Conference proposed amendments to the laws that adversely affected media freedom, right to know and freedom of expression, SAFMA National Chapters of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have done a marvelous job by completing the exercise in their countries. It is time all SAFMA National Units, in collaboration with all media bodies, started lobbying to develop a consensus among the major political forces in their countries to bring these changes to the laws and introduce new legislation on the freedom of information.

During the year-2004, SAFMA has devolved responsibilities from the Central Secretariat to the National Chapters. All the chapters have organized, at least, one regional and one national conference this year. The devolution process has yet to complete due to slackness in some chapters to fully assume their responsibilities. Although all national chapters have held national conferences, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have not elected their National Executive bodies. Despite reminders and persuasions by the Central Secretariat, not all chapters have established their offices or have used funds for activities at the national level. National chapters of Pakistan and Nepal have, however, established their offices and have initiated numerous activities to achieve our goals. Certain narrow tendencies, such as exclusion of important media groups and personalities from the National Units, are not in harmony with the broad-based approach and character of SAFMA. Without including in its activities all the segments of media who agree with our objectives, SAFMA cannot achieve its goals. Avoiding becoming an isolated NGO and striving to become a mainstream and broad-based professional media body of the whole region, SAFMA must embrace all those who in any way can contribute to its mission. Monopolization of office by a few should be discouraged, if it has to become a real democratic institution. We must admit some more imbalances in SAFMA, such as underrepresentation of woman and electronic media journalists. All SAFMA National units must, at least, ensure 20 per cent representation of woman colleagues in their decision making bodies and all conferences and workshops. More journalists from the electronic media should be included in SAFMA. We are initiating joint electronic media productions by making two documentaries, as recommended by the Electronic Media Committee that met in Kathmandu.

Some amendments are being proposed to the Constitution to make the work of National Chapters and Central Secretariat more harmonious. This Annual Report summarizes all the achievements and shortcomings and also includes the Budget for Year 2004-5 and the sources of funding. Audit Report will be circulated on the completion of this year. The Regional Executive Body will finalize next year's plan in the light of National Units proposals. I. Results and Achievements Website: South Asian Media Net has improved much attracting 740,000 hits in a month (August). It is updated daily. Newspapers in the region now increasingly lift news and information from this website. Introduction of Daily Press Alert has increased interest of viewers in the site. Country Profiles are being improved. This has become the largest source of information in South Asia and its reliability is being recognized by broad sections of cyber citizens. South Asian Journal: Three issues have been published this year. Fourth Issue was on economic issues of the region and was very much appreciated by academics, experts, officials and media sectors. There were four launch ceremonies of the Fourth Issue: In Islamabad it was launched by the then Finance Minister, and now Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shaukat Aziz; In Nepal it was launched by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and President of Human Rights Commission of Nepal in separate ceremonies. In New Delhi it was launched by former prime minister I. K. Gujral; and in Dhaka it was launched by Foreign Minister of Bangladesh M. Morshed Khan. Fifth issue was launched in Karachi by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Ishrat Hussain. The Sixth Issue was based on the papers prepared for SAFMA's conference on Regional Cooperation. The Journal is now being taken quite seriously and is accepted as the only serious journal focusing the major issued faced by the countries of South Asia. It has in fact become a platform for debate on policy issues across South Asia and has helped develop a network of leading experts and academicians of the region and beyond on South Asia. It will help create an online cross-border Think-Tank (SAPANA) on South Asia. Subscription campaign has been launched after the publication of brochure. From the Fifth Issue we have started getting ads as

well. An account of FMF dealing with the Journal has been opened. It is hoped that by the end of next year the Journal will become self-sustaining. Media Monitor: Unlike last year, Media Monitor is now being daily updated and has also been placed on the website. It deals with the attacks on the Press. SAFMA National Chapters are now being activated to raise voice in defense of the victims. From next year a system of complaints will start working with the activation of SAFMA National Chapters who will investigate each case of press freedom violation and attacks on journalists to make representation to authorities and mobilize the community to fight for the rights of the victim. Pakistan-India Parliamentarians, Journalists and Experts Conference: 'Understanding, Confidence-building and Conflict-resolution': Bringing together the elected leadership of all major political parties of the subcontinent while involving the leading media persons and experts, was not easy. The timing of the conference was, however, quite conducive to the SAFMA initiative after the revival of normalization process initiated by the two prime ministers. Two SAFMA chapters of Pakistan and India, who met in Dhaka, organized this conference proposed by the SAFMA Central Secretariat supported by the political leadership across all divides, besides the facilitation provided by the security establishment and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan.

approach towards resolving conflict. 'Indo-Pak Conflict: An Alternative View' was well received by the delegates and set the tone of the conference. Messages from Prime Minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee, Congress party President Madam Sonia Gandhi and Chairperson of Pakistan People's Party Ms Benazir Bhutto were read by their party leaders. The messages were an expression of goodwill and support for SAFMA's peace initiative. In open public view and facing media from allover the world, the leading representatives of the parties reiterated their parties' positions while, of course, keeping in line with the theme and spirit of the conference- peace. In this session a monolithic myth about the two sides was broken since different political parties differed with the official positions on more than one count. An overwhelming consensus was on the resolution of conflict and differences through peaceful means of a sustainable dialogue without conditions.

Those who spoke in the Opening Ceremony were: Ch. Shujaat Hussain, President of ruling PML-Q; Makhdoom Amin Fahim, President of PPP-Parliamentarian; Anadi Charan Sahu, BJP; Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, General Secretary, MMA; Smt. Margaret Alva, Indian National Congress; Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, former president of Pakistan and president of Millat Party; Laloo Prasad Yadav, President of RJD; Javed Hashmi, President of PML-N; Moinul Hassan, CPI-M; Senator Ilyas Bilour, ANP; Ram Vilas Paswan, President Janshakti; Safwan Ullah, MQM; Ram Lal Suman, Samajwadi Party; Krishnamaurthy, TDP; Swaraj Kaushal, HVP; Sana Baloch, BNP. Chief Guest Chaudhary Ameer Hussain, Speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan, addressed the conference. He also hosted a lunch for the delegates, observers and guests (670) after the ceremony. Session-I: Understanding Positions: This was the first closed-door session on understanding positions of different parties on Indo-Pak relations. The discussion was very frank and useful. For the first time a variety of representatives of varied public opinion knew each other's positions on various aspects of Indo-Pak relations. Although Kashmir and cross-border terrorism dominated the deliberations, most speakers emphasized the need to have an integrated, inter-sector, uninterruptible and productive dialogue, without ignoring one crucial issue or the other or the concerns of the parties involved and making the

The objective was to build support for the peace process across the party/country divides, develop understanding among the elected representatives of the people, explore areas of confidence-building and evaluate different options of conflict management and conflict resolution. The exercise was designed to bring peace on the agenda of mainstream politics and the mainstream media. The aim was overwhelmingly achieved in participation and media coverage and people's support. Packaged with it were the behind-the-doors deliberations among a cross-section of public representatives and opinion leaders. This was first of its kind of parliamentarians' conference with a mix of leading journalists and experts. With such a broad and all-sided representation of almost all parliamentary parties, represented in both the houses of two parliaments, the conference assumed the significance of an Indo-Pak parliament. Thirty members of Indian Parliament, officially representing 15 parties, and 35 leading editors/journalists and experts, 62 members of Pakistan's National Assembly and the Senate, representing almost all parties in the Parliament, and 75 Pakistani journalists and experts attended the successful conference on August 10-11, 2003, at Islamabad. Total number of delegates was 202, and of observers in the opening and closing ceremonies 250. Opening Ceremony: The conference started with the national anthems of the two countries and welcome addresses by the presidents of SAFMA of Pakistan and India. Secretary General of SAFMA, Imtiaz Alam, presented main policy paper on Indo-Pak conflict and ways to manage conflict, develop understanding, take confidence-building measures and

dialogue hostage to one or the other issue and condition. Mani Shankar Ayar set the tone with an articulate input of formulating a profound approach to having a dialogue. Those who spoke in the session were: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress; Sherry Rehman, PPP-P; Bhan Singh Bhaura, CPI; Retired General Asad Durrani; Saleem Shervani, Samajwadhi Party; Dr. Akmal Hussain, economist; Retired Lieutenant General Oberoi; Begum Tehmina Daultana, PML-N; Retired Lieutenant General Satish Nambiar; Retired Lieutenant General Talat Masood; Abid Hussain Minto, leading jurist; Ramjethmalani, member Rajiya Sabha; Hameeda Khuro, historian; Nehal Singh, senior editor. Makhdoom Amin Fahim Another hosted a dinner-reception, on behalf of PPP Chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto. High Commissioner of India, Shri S. Menon, too, hosted a reception for the delegates of the conference. Session II: Confidence Building Measures (CBMs): Subjects of this session were: Measures for de-escalation; measures for visa relaxation, especially for journalists; measures for a composite, sustainable and result-oriented process of dialogue; measures for trade and economic cooperation; measures to make SAARC vibrant and viable. Overall emphasis was on shifting the resources from military security to human security. A lot of CBMs were proposed ranging from sports links, to youth and cultural exchanges, trade and conflict/nuclear management, relaxation of visa regime, especially for the journalists and writers, to allowing free movement of media products, agreeing to South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to promoting peopleto-people contacts. Those who participated in the discussion were: I A Rehman, senior editor and human rights activist; Danesh Trivedi, ; Senator Muhammad Ali Duranni, Millat Party; Sardar Zora Singh Maan, Akali Dal; Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, senior journalist; Prabash Joshi, MP ; Kanwar Khalid Younis, MQM; Smt Margarete Alva, Congress; Kashmala Tariq, PML-Q; Vinod Sharma, journalist; Hamid Nasir Chatha, PML-C; Mrs. M. P. Durgha, CPI-M; Krishnaswamy, MP ; Syed Naqvi, senior journalist; Farhatullah Babar, PPP-P; Javar-e-Govinda, NC; Naval Kishore Rai, JD-U; Senator Iliyas Ahmed Bilore, ANP;

Abani Roy, ; Ram Nath Govind, ; General (Retd.) Naseer Akhtar; Abdul Hayee Baloch, President BNM; Sherry Rehman, PPP-P; M. P. Bhandara, PML-Q; Seema Mustafa, journalist; Begum Afsar Jehan, MQM; Prem Shankar Jha, senior journalist; Talib Hussain, NC. Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali hosted a luncheon-reception for the delegates, especially the Indian guests, of the conference at the Prime Minister's House. The Prime Minister also made brief welcoming remarks and called for “peace and peace”. Session-III: Conflict resolution: The session attracted input from largest number of delegates mainly on Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism. A variety of opinions was expressed. Most agreed on the need for resolving Kashmir question and cross-border terrorism through dialogue without making it a pre-condition for the resumption of dialogue. A majority favoured simultaneous dialogue on all issues and progress in areas wherever possible to deepen confidence and expand cooperation to create favorable conditions for the resolution of most intractable issues. The house did not entertain preconditions attached to dialogue. Although Pakistani speakers emphasized the need for resolving Kashmir issue, most favoured progress in all areas where cooperation was possible. Similarly, most speakers from the India focused on cross-border terrorism, but many of them did not make resumption of dialogue conditional to its cessation first. Concluding Ceremony: High point of the conference was the 'Sense of the House' that reflected the consensus

reached across the political and ideological divides. This document emphasized the need for an “integrated, uninterruptible, productive and composite dialogue” between India and Pakistan. It recognized the concern of Pakistan over the Kashmir issue and India's concern about cross-border infiltration. The statement supported SAFMA's demand for free movement of journalists and media products across frontiers without hindrances. The House resolved to promote peace and understanding in the subcontinent. As the delegates supported a composite dialogue on all issues, they also emphasized the imperative to address all issues without ignoring any major issue while moving forward where agreement was possible that should, in turn, facilitate resolution of the thorniest issues. The Conference the Subject Committee prepared the Draft of the Sense of the House. The House had no dissenting voice on it. Again in the lights of cameras and presence of the media, the speakers in the concluding session repeated their known positions. However, diversity of views from either country was too obvious with the difference that tones were much milder than those in the opening ceremony, except for Ishaq Khakwani's exceptionally hawkish speech. Those who addressed the ceremony were: Mrs Sarla Maheshwari, CPI-M; Irshad Ahmed Haqqani, senior journalist; Balbir Punj, BJP; Ishaq Khan Khakawani, PMLQ, Nihal Singh, senior journalist; Sherry Rehman, PPP-P; and Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress. The conference concluded with Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood

Kasuri's speech. Mr Kasuri also hosted a dinner. He appreciated SAFMA's initiative while emphasizing the need for resumption of official dialogue. He also launched SAFMA's news and views website, www.southasianmedia.net. On August 12 Speaker of the National Assembly invited the Indian delegates to visit the Parliament and presented them souvenirs. At tea he hosted, President Pervez Musharraf interacted with the Indian delegation. It was a very candid and frank exchange of views after his address. The Chief Minister of NWFP Akram Durrani and the MMA hosted a luncheon-reception for Indian MPs and other guests. Political significance of MMA's reception, in the words of an editor, was that “the leading clerics will now be giving sermons of peace, instead of Jihad, in their Friday address”. In Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervaiz Elahi hosted a marvelous dinner for the Indian guests. Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain facilitated the conference at all levels. Leading human rights activist Asma Jehangir hosted a farewell lunch at her home. The welcome the Indian leaders and guests received from the people made it a memorable event. Right from the Wagah border, where they were received by a large number of men and women, including the JUI and Joint Action Committee for People's Rights' activists, they were garlanded with flowers wherever they went. Not to forget was the civic reception arranged by the Joint Action Committee for People's Rights in Lahore where a play on peace was also presented. In just four days, Laloo Prasad Yadav emerged as the most popular leader comparing even the popularity of national leaders of Pakistan. He in fact made peace the most popular issue. SAFMA National Conference-II, Pakistan: Right to Know and Express: Second SAFMA National Conference on Right to Know and Express was held on January 2, 2004, at Rawalpindi. It focused on six media laws issued by the Musharraf government, in the light of First SAFMA National Conference held at Lahore on December 19-20, 2002, and approved six alternative media draft laws. Six draft laws are: Freedom of Information Act, Press Council Act, Defamation Act, PEMRA Act, Press and Publications Act and APP Regulatory Authority Act. More than 130 delegates from all over Pakistan participated in the conference, besides members of civil society, government officials and members of the Parliament. The draft laws were developed in collaboration with Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Supreme Court Bar Association and leading lawyers. A lobbyist group consisting of Islamabad-based leading journalists, headed by M. Ziauddin, was formed for follow up. Similarly, an

all-party joint parliamentary group is to be formed to pilot these daft laws for legislation by the two houses of the Parliament. A declaration was issued by the Conference reflecting the concerns, commitments and follow-up acts by the media. Preand post-conference booklets were circulated. SAARC Journalists Summit: Access to and Free Flow of Information: Coinciding with the 12th SAARC Summit, SAARC Journalists Summit on Access to and Free Flow of Information was held on January 3, 2004, at Rawalpindi. Forty delegates from India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and more than a hundred delegates from Pakistan took part in the proceedings. The Journalists Summit focused on the SAFMA Protocol on “Free Movement of Media-persons and Media-products Across the South Asian Region, and proposed another Protocol on Freedom of Information for adoption by the SAARC and its member countries. First session was addressed by eminent scholars on freedom of media and media laws in each country of South Asia. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad addressed the session and assured his support for free movement of and liberal visa regime for media persons. Second session was devoted to access to information or freedom of information in each country of South Asia. Concluding session of the Journalists Summit was addressed by five foreign ministers, Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, External Affairs Minister of India Yashwant Sinha, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh M. Morshed Khan, Minister-in-Charge of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa and Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Mr. Tyron Fernando. Five foreign ministers of SAARC countries endorsed SAFMA's initiative, supported SAFMA's Protocol on “Free Movement of Media-persons and Media-products Across the South Asian Region” and backed SAFMA's association with the SAARC as an Apex Regional Body. It is now expected that SAFMA's Protocol and its association with the SAARC as an Apex Media Body will be finalized in the next SAARC Council of Ministers Meeting. SAFMA National Conference on Press Freedom and Media Laws in Nepal (June 25): A committee consisting of experts and senior journalists was formed to review all media laws and the state of press freedom in Nepal that prepared an exhaustive

report and proposed amendments to all those clauses in various laws that hindered press freedom and access to information. The Conference was attended by more than 175 journalists, representing all sectors of media and organizations. More than 35 per cent women journalists participated in this conference. It was addressed by the main political leaders from the political divide who supported SAFMA's initiative in bringing changes in the media laws and vowed to back these amendments. A pre-conference booklet, both in English and Nepali languages, was published and distributed. The Conference issued a declaration in defense of press freedom and a guideline for media to protect its rights, besides issuing a call for restoration of democracy, end to conflict and initiation of negotiations with the Maoists to find a peaceful solution to the insurgency and constitutional crisis. A post-conference booklet is being published in both the languages. The conference elected a National Executive Body that elected office bearers with consensus. SAFMA Office in Nepal has been opened and the Chapter has initiated various activities to pursue SAFMA's agenda. A sister-organization, Sancharika Samuha has been appointed to act as an implementing agency to manage funds and provide an audit report for SAFMA Nepal activities in accordance with the Approved Budget Lines.

were published in a pre-conference booklet. All sections and factions of media, and a large number of representatives from civil and political society attended the conference. More than 180 delegates, including 42 experts and journalists from outside Bangladesh, attended the conference. Most think-tanks and leading academicians from Bangladesh also participated. Foreign Minister Morshed Khan and leading economist and Chairman of Group of Eminent Persons of South Asia Mr Rehman Sobhan addressed the inaugural session. The Conference approved a roadmap for regional cooperation: 'Guiding Principles for Regional Cooperation'. The Conference was widely covered by the media. The News Today was the Implementing Agency of this conference. The post-conference booklet has been published.

SAFMA National Conference on 'Press Freedom and Media Laws', Dhaka, Bangladesh (August 22): A preparatory committee, consisting of legal experts and senior journalists, prepared a report on press freedom and media laws before the conference. It was published in the pre-conference booklet. SAFMA, Bangladesh, Dhaka Press Club and Bangladesh Federation of Journalists jointly organized the conference. All factions of media participated in this conference, despite sharp political divisions. But, due to a bomb blast at the public rally of opposition party, Awami League, the conference after its inaugural session and approval of the agenda and report on media laws was adjourned. It is yet to reconvene to elect office bearers. SAFMA Regional Conference on Interstate Conflicts on October 9-10, 2004, New Delhi, India: SAFMA organized a Regional Conference on Interstate Conflicts on October 9-10, 2004. Leading experts and more than 250 journalists from the region participated in the conference which focused on interstate conflicts and differences and issued a

SAFMA Regional Workshop on 'Gender and Media', in Nepal (June 26-27): The conference was designed to sensitize media on gender issues, critically review the national media in the region and propose Gender Guidelines for Media. Leading journalists from the region, including more than 40 per cent woman journalists participated in the conference. More than 150 journalists and around two dozen civil society organizations took part in the conference, including 35 delegates from outside Nepal. The conference was jointly organized by SAFMA Nepal and Sacharika, a leading women media body. The conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and addressed by leading women activists and journalists from the region. Six papers and discussion critically evaluated the media role in gender issues. Three subcommittees worked out recommendations and plans to carry on the objective of the conference. Most importantly, a Gender Guideline was proposed for the media. It was decided to disseminate the Gender Guidelines for Media. The conference made various recommendations to SAFMA to increase the participation of women journalists in various bodies and conferences that were accepted by the Secretary General of SAFMA. This was the first media conference in the region where such a large number of journalists from the mainstream media participated. A follow-up to the conference needs to be done by all chapters of SAFMA. A pre-conference booklet was published, while post-conference booklet is about to be published. SAFMA Regional Workshop on 'Regional Cooperation in South Asia', Dhaka, Bangladesh (August 20-21): This conference focused on all possible areas of regional cooperation in South Asia and benefited from the scholarly research work done by the experts from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Main focus was: Roadmap for Regional Cooperation; Regional Trade; Economic Cooperation; Regional Energy Grid; South Asian Parliament; South Asian Human Rights Code and South Asian Cooperative Security. All the documents

visit by the journalists from India and J&K is taking place immediately after this conference. [It has taken place] Regional Conference on Intrastate Conflicts, Colombo, Sri Lanka: SAFMA organized a Regional Conference on Intrastate Conflicts in South Asia on November 6-7. More than 35 journalists from the region and about 100 from Sri Lanka participated. Besides leading experts, Sri Lankan Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Opposition addressed the conference. The conference discussed ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, sectarian conflict in Pakistan, Chakma tribes issue in Bangladesh, rebellions in India's North-east and Maoist insurrection in Nepal. It issued a declaration on the ways to resolve these conflicts. Local participation was, however, not up to the mark. Young Asia Television, the implementing agency, did its job very well. The problem lies with the approach of the chapter which is not inclusive.

comprehensive Declaration to resolve conflicts and differences. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and his predecessor Yashwant Sinha addressed the conference. This was the first time that such a big gathering of journalists discussed bilateral disputes and differences and agreed to propose ways to resolve differences through peaceful means. New Delhi Press Institute of India was the implementing agency which could not do its job fully. A post-conference booklet will be published soon. SAFMA National Conference on Press Freedom and Media Laws in New Delhi, India: SAFMA India held its National Conference on Press Freedom and Media Laws on October 11, 2004 and elected New National Executive Body. This was quite a representative conference of media that discussed all factors that prohibit freedom of press or influence media adversely. Various papers covered all aspects of media. Local participation on the issues was quite encouraging. But, unlike other conferences, no declaration was issued, although the participants made many recommendations. Journalists' Exchange across the LoC: SAFMA India and Pakistan organized an Exchange of Journalists across the LoC that turned out to be a great confidence building measure between the two countries on Kashmir. This encouraged President Musharraf to open debate on Kashmir and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reduce troops in J&K. The return

SAFMA National Conference of Sri Lanka: The conference was held on November 5 at Colombo. It could not attract sufficient representation from the media. It focussed on Press Freedom and Media Laws and came out with substantive recommendations. New office bearers and national Executive Body were not elected. The National Chapter needs to be expanded to other media groups and should include Free Media Movement and members of Editors' Guild. Fourth SAFMA conference on 'Reconciliation Processes in South Asia': It is being held on November 20-21, 2004, in Lahore, Pakistan. More than 250 journalists from the seven countries of SAARC will attend this conference and elect Fourth SAFMA Regional Executive Body and the Secretary General. Recognition of SAFMA as an Associate-Body of SAARC: Due to continuous efforts by SAFMA Central Secretariat and SAFMA National Chapters, SAFMA was recognized as an Associate-Body of SAARC at its last Council of Ministers' Meeting held at Islamabad on July 21. Efforts are afoot to get the status of Apex Regional Body of Media of SAARC. Foreign ministers of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have given public commitment to supporting it in the next Council of Ministers Meeting of SAARC. This will facilitate free movement of journalists across South Asia on SAARC-Sticker as enjoyed by the members of parliaments. Similarly, lobbying continues for the approval of SAFMA protocol on Free Movement of Journalists and Media products across South Asia before the 13th SAARC Summit at Dhaka. SAFMA is also pursuing member countries of SAARC to acknowledge its Protocol on 'Freedom of Information'. SAFMA National Chapters' Activities: Central Secretariat, as planned this year, is increasingly devolving its authority and activities to the National Chapters. Five National Chapters of SAFMA have been formed and this process has completed in November. Provincial/state chapters are also being established. In Pakistan, India and Nepal SAFMA

National Chapters have been elected, SAFMA offices are working in Pakistan and Nepal and local activities are taking place. In Pakistan, SAFMA Chapters in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi have been formed and in Hyderabad, Peshawar and Quetta committees are being formed. These provincial chapters have undertaken various activities. Bangladesh and India chapters are setting up their offices. South Asian Mission, Preparatory Work and Lobbying: Secretary General of SAFMA toured New Delhi, Chandigarh, Colombo, Dhaka, Islamabad and Karachi to prepare for 10 SAFMA national and regional conferences and launch South Asian Journal. The conference programme and arrangements were finalized and implementing agencies identified with the National Chapters. Other Planned Activities: The exchange of sector leaders from the two Punjabs under the programme of Punjab-Punjab Consultation has been postponed to February 2005. The preparation for Indo-Pak Parliamentary Conference at New Delhi has been initiated. However, that South Asian Journal Conference-I and Conference-II may be joined to save resources. The initial work on South Asian Parliament to be held at Bhurban, Pakistan, in March 2005 has already started. Liberalization of Visa for Pakistani Journalists by India: Thanks to the lobbying by SAFMA Chapters of India and Pakistan, External Affairs Minister of India Kunwar Natwar Singh promised in Islamabad to a SAFMA delegation that India would liberalize visa for Pakistani journalists. Along with National Security Advisor, he announced opening of visa regime for Pakistan journalists at a reception by SAFMA, India for Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshied Mehmood Kasuri in New Delhi on September 7, 2004. A formal announcement by External Affairs Ministry of India came on September 19. In the meanwhile, as promised by Foreign Minister Mr Khurshid Kasuri in New Delhi, Pakistan government is considering reciprocating the New Delhi gesture. Promise of Recognition of SAFMA as an Apex Regional Body of SAARC: Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and India have also pledged to jointly take up granting SAFMA the status of an Apex Regional Body at the next meeting of SAARC Council of

Ministers' Meeting. Other foreign ministers, including of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, are also expected to support it. Un-Planned activities: Given SAFMA mandate for conflict resolution, regional cooperation and access to and free flow of information, a lot of lobbying and networking is involved and so it cannot avoid interacting with other stakeholders. SAFMA organized a big interaction with the Punjabi intellectuals and writers from Indian Punjab to push its programme of Punjab-Punjab Consultation, which is very crucial to creating a thaw between India and Pakistan. SAFMA, Lahore organized an interactive dinner for SAARC Writers' Conference. The reception for Foreign Minister of Pakistan in Delhi, though unplanned, was crucial to pushing the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan forward and achieving our objectives. The ice on visa issue for journalists was in fact broken at this reception. The Journal was launched to promote it. South Asian Multi-media Development, South Asian Media University and Cultural Complex: As planned, SAFMA is undertaking feasibility reports on post-graduation, diploma for on-job journalists and Multi-Media Development and South Asian Media University. Efforts have been made to get land on lease from the Government of the Punjab. Donors will be approached through the UNDP to fund the project. Planned Results not achieved: There is no output or result that has not been achieved. However, timing of the conferences had to be adjusted according to the changing situation in each country. Documentaries: Two documentary films will be produced as decided by the Electronic Media Committee meeting at Kathmandu. Central Secretariat will award the sub-contracts. Planned Activities for the Next Period: Journalists Exchange Across Kashmir: 20 journalists from India will visit Lahore, Azad Kashmir and Islamabad from November 19 to November 27. A joint report is to be published and a joint documentary. Indo-Pak Parliamentary Conference in January in New Delhi. Meeting of South Asian Parliamentarians in New Delhi to convene South Asian Parliament in March 2005 near Islamabad (Bhurban). SAARC Journalists Summit-II on January 8-9 in Dhaka before the 13th SAARC Summit to push its agenda on free movement of journalists and free flow of information across frontiers. Pre- and post-conference booklets. One issue of South Asian Journal (January). Website to expand. Lobbying for two protocols and SAFMA recognition as an Apex Regional Body of SAARC. A documentary film on 'War films in the subcontinent'. A Feasibility Report on Multi-Media Development (University) and Cultural Complex. Feasibility Report on Post-Graduation Multimedia Course. Feasibility Study on Diploma for Working Journalists.

Budget and Sources of Funding:

Reimbursement expected from UNDP

Revised Total of Norway

South Asian Free Media Association SAFMA Budget: Year 2004-5 B/L 13.02 15.02

17.03

21.02

Activitiy No. 1 2 2.1

2.2 3 3.1 3.2 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

4.6

4.7 4.8

4.9

4.10

33.06

5.1

5.2

5.3

Basis of Estimates Admin Support Staff Salaries Admin. Staff Salaries Duty Travel In Country Travel Preparatory missions to South Asian Countries National Professionals Salaries of Staff Award Sub Contracts Website Hosting Charges Office Rent South Asian Journal (4) Issue Media Monitor Report Training Courses Post-SAARC Journalists Summit Booklet Feasibility Reports Feasibility Report of Diploma Course for Media Practioners Feasibility Report for Feasibility Report for Post Graduate Course South Asian Multimedia Complex DOCUMENTARY FILM DOCUMENTARY : " War Films " SAFMA Chapters' Activities/ Meetings/ Conferences SAFMA Chapters' Activities SAFMA National Chapters (5) Activities : 3 Workshops and 3 Seminars in Bangladesh, Nepal. 4 Workshops and 4 Seminars in Pakistan and India. 2 Workshops and 2 Seminars in Sri Lanka SAFMA Meetings/ Conferences SAFMA/NEPAL Regional Workshop/ National Conference Kathmandu,Nepal

Source

Budget 2004

5.4 5.5

Budget 2005

Less: Contribution by HBF SAFMA/PAKISTAN

(US$) 17,000.00

(US$) 20,000.00

Norway

10,600.00

12,600.00

Norway

10,000.00

33.06

(20,726.10)

8.2

MEDIA RESOURCE

141,600.00 -

154,600.00 10,000.00

Norway

8.3

43,349.38

CENTRE

SAFMA/BANGLA DESH

8.4

5.7

Regional Workshop/ National Conference Dhaka, Bangladesh SAARC/JOURNALIST S SUMMIT - II

8.5

5.8 Norway Norway

8.1

5.6

15,000.00

5.9 5.10

Norway

77,965.99

8.6

Norway

103,630.00

8.7

SAFMA/INDIA

8.8

WORKSHOPS/NATIO Norway Norway

12,000.00 6,850.00

15,000.00 7,535.00

Norway Norway Norway

56,500.00 14,000.00 -

62,150.00 16,000.00 28,000.00

NAL CONFERENCE

5.12

SAFMA/SRI LANKA

5,173.00

10,000.00

6 6.1 7 7.1

45.22

Norway

10,000.00

7.2

Norway

20,000.00

7.3

53.05

Norway

111,009.88

NAL CONFERENCE Non Expendable Equipments Equipment Expenses Sundries Electricity Bills Telephone Bills - PTCL

8.10

8.11

Norway

75,190.88

Norway

15,000.00

8.12

90,000.00 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13

Norway

164,138.60

Norway

55,089.22

206,423.65

7.14

Netherlands

161,286.55

Netherlands

35,313.75

Netherlands

35,329.88

Netherlands

123,592.75

Netherlands

237,539.53

Netherlands

154,821.50

Netherlands

62,188.75

Netherlands

51,519.38

Netherlands

182,438.25

Netherlands

201,557.13

Norway

8,500.00

8,600.00

Norway

6,400.00

6,500.00

Norway

2,200.00

2,500.00

for Deputy Director Internet Connection Charges

Norway

800.00

Norway

7,450.00

9,000.00

Entertainment Local Conveyance - Taxi Fare Printing/ Stationery Books & Newspaper Postage/ Coureir Repair/ Maintenance Office Advertisement Misc. - Others Central Secretariat backed activities to strengthen networking among sectors, preparatory meetings, receptions and other activities necessary to pursue its agenda and achieve necessary targets, such as lobbying, etc.

Norway

5,000.00

6,000.00

Norway Norway Norway Norway

2,500.00 3,200.00 1,000.00 2,500.00

3,000.00 3,500.00 1,000.00 3,000.00

Norway Norway Norway

1,500.00 1,000.00 9,000.00

2,000.00 1,200.00 9,500.00

Norway

20,000.00

30,000.00

Consultation Fee Printing/ Distribution of Policy books 8000 copies @ $5/copy

Netherlands

160,000.00

Netherlands

40,000.00

To be funded by Netherlands

20,000.00

Telephone Bills - Mobile

Norway

653,908.65

Policy Papers (8) Issues -

21.02

33.06

9.1 10

Telephone Bills - Mobile

7.4

1,084,420.84

5th SAFMA Conference

WORKSHOPS/NATIO 5.13

Norway

Journalists Exchange Across Kashmir Return-Journalists Exchange Across Kashmir South Asian Journal Conference - I South Asian Journal Conference - II Parliamentary Conference Punjab/ Punjab Consultation Return-Punjab/ Punjab Consultation South Asian Parliament

8.9

5.11

Norway

(15,000.00)

4th SAFMA Conference

HBF

SAFMA/ISLAMABAD Norway

UNDP

DOCUMENTARY FILMS DOCUMENTARY : "Rediscovreing our lost humanity" SAFMA/PAKISTAN

624,052.55

821,534.90

CIDA 200,000.00

WORKSHOPS/NATIO 10.1

NAL CONFERENCE

To be funded by CIDA GRAND TOTAL

CIDA

93,030.50 293,030.50

1,708,473.39

1,768,474.05

South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) Memorandum of Association (Constitution) I. Introduction South Asia has been plagued by both inter-state and intra-state conflicts. and includes two nuclear states with a history of mutual hostility. This makes it one of the most dangerous places in the world. The peoples of South Asia, representing vibrant and diverse cultures, face challenges of rampant poverty, massive underdevelopment backwardness, illiteracy, poor governance and authoritarian culture, besides a lack of human and social rights. Despite a vast potential for economic development cultural cooperation and progress, the region is still far from evolving an institutionalized framework for mutually beneficial regional cooperation. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) remains largely dormant and compares poorly with other regional bodies that have made substantial progress, benefiting their people. No less disturbing is the fact that media, both print and electronic, at most of the places in the region is not as free as it should be in this age of freedom and information revolution. Even if it is relatively free in some countries, it is not as independent, objective, unbiased and responsible as it is expected to be as an institution of civil society. Nor has it been responsive to the needs of public interest in our respective countries and the imperatives of regional peace and cooperation. What makes things worse in South Asia is that interstate and intra-state conflicts prohibit free flow of information across the region that, in turn, reinforces deep suspicions, estrangement, animosity and demonisation of the adversaries across various divides. Given this adverse situation, the leading media-persons and media bodies from the region felt the need to address all these issues faced by the region, in general, and challenges/problems confronted by the media, in particular. It was realized that a

mainstream, broad-based and all-encompassing body of media of all languages, both print and electronic, be formed to promote regional cooperation, peace, professional collaboration, independence of media and freedom of and access to information, including free movement of media-persons and media-products across the region. Thanks to the initiative taken by The News, a publication of Jang Group of Newspapers. Pakistan, First South Asian Free Media Conference was convened on July 1-2,2000, at Islamabad. Pakistan. The Conference issued a 'Joint Statement' that formulated the basic objectives to be voluntarily pursued by the media persons and media bodies. It also formed South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) to organizationally pursue the objectives of the freedom of media and other fon11S of expression and freedom of and access to information. A Regional Secretariat, under the Regional Coordinator, was created to run the organizational affairs of SAFMA. 2. Objectives 2.1. Promote tolerance, understanding, confidence building, management and resolution of conflicts, peace, nuclear stabilization, disarmament, economic and cultural cooperation and people to people contacts in the region: 2.2. Support full enforcement of universally recognized human rights, including women rights, social rights of the people and equal rights for the minorities and the indigenous peoples: 2.3. Struggle for freedom of media, freedom of and access to information, including the removal of all barriers in the way of free flow of information and unhindered movement of media-persons and media-products across the region: 2.4. Develop high professional standards, professional collaboration and independence of a South Asian media free of all biases and prejudices while monitoring all violations of freedom of and access to information: 2.5. Benefit the people and the region with the fruits of information revolution by promoting interactive and collaborative media products, including web-sites and magazines: 2.6. Uphold public interest and civil society in each country and the overall interests of the peoples of this region: 2.7. Respect decency, privacy and dignity of all citizens and be accountable to readers/viewers and autonomous and self-regulatory bodies adjudicating the violations of the rights of the citizens.

3. Goals 1. Engage all media-persons who believe in the freedom of media and agree to promote the objectives (mentioned above); 2. Establish broad-based chapters of SAFMA across the countries and develop networking among the various branches of media; 3. Plan and work for the freedom of media and all fon11S of expression and freedom of and access to information in each country; 4. Monitor the violations of the freedom of media and free flow of and access to information; 5. Develop modules of training and hold workshops for media-persons; 6. Work out concrete ways to promote professional collaboration in various media fields: 7. Lobby with national governments and at the SAARC level for lifting of all tariff and non-tariff barriers in the way of free flow of information, including unhindered movement and exchange of media-persons and media-products, across the South Asian region: 8. Promote, as far as possible, healthy, informative, educative, objective and constructive journalism, broadcasting and electronic communications. 9. Bring media professionals together in various ways and at different forums to develop a better understanding of all pressing issues in the region; 10. Produce joint publications/productions to promote a free and vibrant South Asia media. 4. Organizational Principles: 4.1. All matters of SAFMA will be decided in a democratic spirit of accommodation and with broad-based consensus: 4.2. All financial 111atters will be kept transparent and due accounts will be presented before the South Asian Free Media Conference (SAFMC) in case of Central Secretariat if some direct funding takes place, and before the General Body of a National Unit, if the funding is of local nature. 4.3. All members will be consulted while framing the agenda, preparing resolutions/declarations and designing of the major conferences/events. 4.4. All National Units will follow, as far as possible, the

direction set by SAFMC, Regional Executive Body (REB) and the Secretary General who will be responsible before SAFMC and REB. 5. Organizational Structure 5.1. Name of the Organization: South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA). 5.2. Logo: Two opening hands (as of the SAARC symbol) holding seven pens. 5.3. Membership: Any media-person from the member countries of the SAARC who agrees with the objectives and goals of SAFMA can become a member of the organization by filling the Membership Form, subject to approval by the National Unit. 5.4. Delegate: Every member is entitled to become a delegate to the General Body of the National Unit and SAFMC, participate in its activities, elect office bearers and freely express his/her opinion on all matters in the National Unit and SAFMC. 5.5. National Unit: There will be a National Unit in each country with a National Executive to be elected by the General Body consisting of all members. 5.6. The General Body: It will consist of all members in a National Unit that will set the direction, frame rules and elect office-bearers of the National Executive. 5.7. The National Executive: The National Executive will consist of office bearers, namely, a President, a Vice President, a General Secretary, a Joint Secretary and a Treasurer, and as many executive members as decided by the General Body. It will

State Minister for Culture Muhammad Ali Durrani with his wife at a beautiful and fulfilling cultural evening he organised for the delegates. Music and melodies enthralled the audience. Mr Durrani made an impressive speech on the need to bring cultures of the people of South Asia together in their journey towards building a South Asian fraternity.

members from each country, including President, General Secretary and a member from each National Unit by virtue of their offices of the respective National Unit, plus the Secretary General, who is directly elected by the SAFMC. The Regional Executive Body will remain in office till the holding of next South Asian Free Media Conference and take all decisions till the next SAFMC. The REB will guide the Secretary General and the Central Secretariat under him/her on all matters. It may delegate authority to the Secretary General to run all affairs of SAFMA. The REB will meet time to time, if possible, and will also interact on the internet. It will be presided over by the Chairperson and run by the Secretary General and take all decisions with broadbased consensus.

report on all matters to the General Body and will pursue all objectives set by SAFMC and set its own goals according to local conditions. The National Executive can form as many branches as are required. It will meet whenever required or summoned at the request of three members by the General Secretary of National Unit. All decisions ought to be taken by consensus, but a majoritydecision will be binding on all members. The National Unit will follow all decisions taken by the SAFMC, REB and the Secretary General of SAFMA. The term of the National Executive will be two years. 5.8.

5.9.

Central Conference: South Asian Free Media Conference (SAFMC) is the highest decision-making body of SAFMA that will set the direction, make rules and elect a Secretary General. It will take all decisions with broad-based consensus. The SAFMC will be convened by the Secretary General on behalf of the Regional Executive Body and in consultation with the host National Unit. The Central Secretariat will determine the ratio of delegates, whereas the National Units will finalize the list of the delegates from their respective countries. The Secretary General will scrutinize the list of delegates and suggest ways to the National Unit to rectify any imbalance in the composition of the delegation. Regional Executive Body (REB): It will consist of three

The public perceptions of the conduct of the media have not been very flattering. Newspapers, for instance, are blamed for promoting dissentions, for spreading controversies and for taking special pleasure in highlighting the negative. The uncharitable among the critics ascribe this to the lure of monetary gains. Newspapers, so goes their argument, indulge in sensationalism to boost their circulations and garner higher profits. This generalisation does not do justice to the print media, on the whole. However, some publications do not conform to the required standards of objectivity. The media could help promote positive trends in two ways - one, by, avoiding the temptation of devoting disproportionately high attention to divisive rather integrative factors and, two, by, creative efforts to suggest ways and strategies, calculated to enhance understanding and strengthen cooperation in various spheres, political, economic and social. It is an exciting job, howsoever viewed.

5.10. The Chairperson: The President of the National Unit, hosting the South Asian Free Media Conference, will be the Chairperson of SAFMA and will remain in office till the holding of next Central Conference. He will preside over the REB and SAFMC and coordinate with the Secretary General in all organizational and other matters. However, if the Secretary General is from the host country, the Chairperson shall continue in the office until the next conference. 5.11. The Secretary General: There will be a Secretary General, to be elected by the SAFMC for a period of three years. He or she will run all affairs of SAFMA as mandated by the SAFMC and from time to time, will be guided by REB, or take decisions in consultation with the REB members on important events/issues. The Secretary General will implement all decisions of SAFMC and REB. He or she will represent SAFMA, plan and execute all programs, besides running the organization and managing the Central Secretariat. He or she will also raise and manage funds, besides keeping the accounts. The Secretary General will present his or her Report, including accounts, to the SAFMC, and consult members of REB on major decisions. He or she will also have the discretion to allocate funds, take decisions, negotiate contracts, plan and implement the programs. 5.12. The Central Secretariat: It will be formed by the Secretary General to assist him in running the organizational matters of Central SAFMA. All matters of the Central Secretariat will be decided by the Secretary General who will get an NGO registered with the name of Free Media Foundation which shall have a memorandum of association committing unambiguously to the Charter, objectives, goals and work plans of SAFMA and work with the Central Secretariat based in Lahore, Pakistan. All coordinators, officials and staff appointed by the Central Secretariat/Free Media Foundation shall be responsible to the Secretary General and follow the FMF's Project Cycle Operations Manual.

SAFMA has the credentials to play this role. While giving priority to the functioning of the media and related issues, it had been engaged in efforts to improve the political climate in the region. The rationale was simple. Peace and harmony in South Asia was important by itself, helping create as it does a setting, conducive to tasks for ameliorating the lot of the poor and the disadvantageous. It was important also for the proper functioning of the newspapers and television channels.

Keeping

peace momentum

he logic is too striking to be missed. Events in South Asia, particularly in relation to India and Pakistan as also New Delhi's ties with Sri Lanka, have moved in the positive direction, of late. At the same time, our organisation, South Asian Free Media Association, has increasingly involved itself in the moves to ease tensions. The complementarity of the two approaches augurs well for the region. It needs to be intensified and strengthened. The role and responsibility of the media acquires crucial importance in these circumstances.

SAFMA lobbied hard with the governments in the region and with SAARC leadership for the removal of impediments in the way of the free flow of media persons and media products. It achieved limited success, with the governments of India and Pakistan publicly committing themselves to easing the visa regime for journalists. Simultaneously, it sponsored the visit of parliamentarians and experts from India to Pakistan in August last year which set the tone for initiatives at the political level in the following months. A return visit of MPs from Pakistan is planned in January 2005. SAFMA also arranged discussions - at the regional level - on such issues as media and peace, media and democracy, regional cooperation and ways to sort out inter-state conflicts in South Asia. Involved in these discussions were top political figures, experts, journalists and leaders of other professions. The theme for the discussion now - media and conciliation - is, thus, a fitting follow-up. Reconciliation has a far-reaching connotation, casting, in a way, special responsibility on the media to strive for measures, aimed at not only resolving conflicts but also going beyond and suggesting durable solutions for the problems that had led to bitterness and caused alienation. Just as conflicts and acrimony take very little to assume formidable proportions, the moves for peace and amity could develop considerable momentum after the initial push. The media could, thus, be instrumental in bringing about a major transformation in the region. This, at a time when the relationship in two cases - India and Pakistan, and India and Sri

However, fresh strains have appeared in India's ties with Bangladesh. The two sides have taken clashing positions on alleged help by elements in Bangladesh to the insurgents, active in north-eastern parts of India. It is odd that bilateral differences have not been sorted out, despite contacts at various levels, from the foreign ministers downward. There is little evidence of the media in the two countries seeking to find out the truth, and help contain the drift. There is urgent need to fill this gap.

Commission for

Nepal

As had been often noted, the asymmetry in the size and resources of India and others in the region places New Delhi in a peculiar position. India has land or maritime borders with one or other of its South Asian neighbours, while none of them has such contiguity.

The unity of purpose and solidarity of media persons has won the leaders' support as was evidence in the fourth SAARC summit in Islamabad in January 2004. There was more support to easing restrictions imposed on the free flow of information across national frontiers step by step and on increased facilitation of the movement of media-persons under a visa free regime. We are happy to put on record, the announcement made by the Government of Nepal to waive visa fees on SAARC journalists' entry into Nepal. Sri Lanka has relaxed rules by providing visa at the port of entry and other governments have already initiated similar steps of liberalizing the movement of media people into one another's territory. Relations between the two neighbours of the region, India and Pakistan, attained a new and welcome dimension when India facilitated the visit of Pakistani journalists to the hitherto restricted territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This gesture has been hailed as a historic step toward normalization of relations between India and Pakistan and averting the dangers of unpredictable armed conflicts through peaceful means.

Special responsibility devolves on New Delhi to take bold initiatives to dispel the misgivings of its neighbours. Such an approach was tried but was given up because of the perception in New Delhi of a lack of reciprocity. Here is another area which offers the media the scope for a creative role. The job is both challenging and exciting.

Lanka - has improved significantly. Think of the confrontation between India and Pakistan some four years ago, when the troops from the two sides were massed on the borders in hostile postures, contrast it with the present state of engagement, and the degree of improvement would be clear. Engagement, however, could be of use only if it is accompanied by sustained efforts to resolve problems. In the case of India and Pakistan, its meaning is clear - the two sides have not to be content with the present level of contacts but have to use it to achieve specific objectives - like durable solution of bilateral issues - economic ties, increased people-to-people contacts, Kashmir (Siachen and other issues), terrorism and the menace of narcotics. The promotion of contacts among the people has been highly encouraging, opening as it were the floodgates of goodwill. The media could help maintain this momentum and use the new climate to achieve enduring results. The dealings between India and Sri Lanka have, of late, been smooth and easy. India's understanding of the implications of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and the free trade agreement between the two countries are among the notable developments. The recent visit of the Sri Lankan President, Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga, climaxed this process. Here again the role of the media will be crucial.

broiled in conflicts with neighbours or take sides in hostilities. But we do not like to get away from our responsibilities when called for in the interest of peace, friendship and regional harmony. At a time when India and Pakistan were not on speaking terms at the fall of 2002, the proposed meeting of SAFMA could not be held in Delhi and the Nepalese journalists showed their steadfastness in hosting the conference in Kathmandu in January 2002. The Kathmandu Declaration of the Second SAFMA Regional Conference drew the attention of the statesmen and leaders of South Asia at the SAARC summit, to the rationale of free flow of information across the borders as well as advocacy for the right of free movement of media-persons in the countries of the region.

he fourth South Asian Regional Conference of Journalists here promises to usher in an era of reconciliation as against the agonizing phase of confrontation and hostilities straining the relations among the nations of South Asia. Since the inception of SAFMA, the Nepalese media-persons have been associated with all its activities that have yielded the prospects for peace, harmony and economic progress. As a small nation, it is natural for us not to get

The pace of normalization of relations between India and Pakistan is bound to accelerate the improvement of relations among other nations of the region. The prospects for peace and harmony pose a strong deterrent in the fight against the threat of global terrorism which is undermining the stability of democratic institutions, human rights and media freedom. Nepal is gripped in political turmoil and instability owing to armed conflict. For more than nine years, the conflict has cost the lives of over 10,000 people besides enormous destruction of public property. With the derailment of parliamentary institutions, journalists are increasingly subjected to the denial of human rights and media freedom. Many journalists have lost their lives during reporting missions and many have become the objects of suspicion and espionage particularly when they resort to unbiased exposure of facts in the conflict. I make an urgent plea to SAFMA to commission an independent inquiry mission of journalists to visit Nepal for assessment of the situation and call the attention of the parties to the conflict, to the need for safety of journalists and their professional duty to inform the public in an unbiased and objective manner. Javed Iqbal and Riaz Mansoori, Pakistan