The recent conference of South Asian countries in Kathmandu got some global attention for the wrong reason: tensions between India and Pakistan. SAARC(South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) is a body promoting co-operation between the countries in the Indian subcontinent. The SAARC meets usually have agendas relating to development, social welfare and the like. But in the scenario post December 13th, the summit's single newsmaking issue is the tensions between the local biggie India and Pakistan. Some interesting incidents I came across about the summit:
1. General Musharraf turned up at the summit one day late! The official reason given is that he could not take off from China due to fog. But speculations are that he was afraid to meet India's PM in the first day's meeting. I suspect this is the real reason. The other speculation is about the an officer in Pakistan embassy in Nepal. An officer was arrested by Nepal police for posessing large amount of fake currency. And rumour is that Musharraf wanted to pressurize Nepal government to release this official by coming late!! And it is nothing new that there are too many criminals from Pakistan in Nepal.
2. At the end of Atal Bihari Vajapeyi's speech full of hatred to Pakistan, the Pakistan president walked down and shook hands with the prime minister. This became a very very famous gimmick and star attraction of the summit. The PM evidently was surprised and could not react immediately. What I would have said if I were in PM's shoes: "Thank you General, for endorsing my speech and approving your sins!!". But then, it took me some time to think of this response.
3. This line is taken from news in TV channel 'Aaj Tak', translated to English. "The Pakistan president General Musharraf changed colors serveral times today!". Anyone who was watching the happenings in the summit will agree instantly.
4. The India-Pakistan friction took center-stage in the summit. This was feared even before the summit begun. This is really not in the spirit of the summit. Here is what an official from Maldieves quoted: "It is high time that India and Pakistan realize that SAARC is not a forum for these two countries to fight between each other. They must realize that there are five other countries in SAARC and get down to disuss common agendas". It is true that Bangladesh, Maldieves and Bhuthan suffered from this problem. But it is also notable that along with India and Pakistan, the issue of terrorism is of high importance to SriLanka and Nepal. Nepal is suffering from the problem of extremist Maoist group MCC and SriLanka is troubled by the infamous LTTE.
