by Cecil V. Wikramanayake
The stark truth about SAARC was the theme of the press briefing conducted by the South Asia Partnership International on Wednesday evening at the Galle Face Hotel, where Mrs. Jezima Ismail, Chairperson of SAP-I and former President of SAARC Federation of University Women and Milton Aponso, former Director of the Department of Aviation and a Board Director of SAP-I outlined for the benefit of the media, details of the South Asian People’s Summit to be held from December 8 to 10.

"If governments won’t meet, then let the people meet" was the theme underlying the talk to the media.

Mrs. Ismail, starting her talk by saying that the "Summit promises to be a significant event of the new era and brings together a continent with a rich cultural heritage, yet confronted with immense challenges and problems," said the conference was being held to find solutions to problems common and regional, at a crucial time when the postponement of the SAARC summit has further compounded problems.

The summit, she said, is designed as a campaign that seeks to make a reality of a vision — one that seeks to eradicate poverty, prevent violation of human rights and poor governance and that will promote human development in South Asia.

"As South Asians," Mrs. Ismail said, "We share serious concerns over the unresolved problems and continuing conflicts of the region." She added that it was SAP-I’s belief that there is nothing civil societies working in partnership with governments, cannot accomplish.

The summit hopes to set up five commissions to deal with the priority issues that have been identified, viz: Peace and Regional co-operation, governance, local and regional, Human Rights and Human Development, the Empowerment of Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child/Child Labour/Trafficking.

As a result of this People’s Summit meeting they hope that the networks in the region focus on methods to influence SAARC, that a SAARC NGO forum would be set up and that a further People’s Summit be held in November 2002 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The organisers of the People’s Summit expect ten participants from Bangladesh, 20 from India, 6 from Pakistan, 11 from Nepal and 36 from Sri Lanka.