Steps stressed to counter ethnic hostilities

LAHORE

Enhancing people-to-people contact and institutional collaborations, especially among the universities of Asian states is the best way forward to much-needed inter-regional as well as intra-regional connectivity. 

This was the consensus among speakers at the policy dialogue on 2nd day of the international conference on “Inter-Regional Connectivity: South Asia and Central Asia” at Government College University (GCU) on Thursday.

GCU Dean Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Prof Dr Tahir Kamran chaired the policy dialogue while Ching Chang from Society for Strategic Studies China, Dr Sinderpal Singh from Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Jonathan Fulton from Zayed University, UAE, Dr Bilveer Singh, Dr Martin Hribek, Dr Sinderpal Singh and Ajith Balasooriya and a large number other foreign delegates from nine different countries were present.

The speakers recommended to the policymakers of South Asia and Central Asia states that benefits of geo-economics were immense so economic affairs should take precedence over bilateral disputes between the states, and a permanent think-tank was established where academicians and researchers could debate on the emerging issues of inter-regional connectivity.

They also discussed the need for redefining the whole idea of conventional sovereignty and also explored the social, political and dimensions of interregional connectivity.

Prof Dr Tahir Kamran said there was a need for effective and joint measures by the states to counter ethnic hostilities and religious extremism which figure strongly in the limited progress on inter regional connectivity till date.

The conference chairman, Prof Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt, said there was a strong realisation among the Central Asian and South Asian states for inter-regional economic cooperation, and for the realisation of this goal, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could be effectively exploited to create an integrative line between Pakistan and Central Asian states particularly Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan via Afghanistan to engage and involve these republics into this profit seeking venture to create an environment for the comprehensive, sustainable and uniform progress for peace and stability of the whole region.

Ching Chgang said South Asia itself contained serious strategic unbalance. “India deeply suspects China's plan of 'One Belt One Road' and refuses to cooperate even in literal or oral way. The main reason is not because India still memorizes the pain caused by 1962 war, but also strongly related to the 'unbalance status quo' created by India which would be bound to be destroyed by China's plan,” he said. Dr Sinderpal Singh said sovereignty and the integrity of territorial borders had been core concerns for the post- colonial states since their inception as independent nation states.