![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/HGw0YR5aoAArPxc?format=jpg&name=small\")
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New Delhi : Participants of a webinar organized by the India-based Centre for Peace and Progress have said that India is the biggest obstacle to the revival of SAARC and peace.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the webinar chaired by OP Shah aimed to revive dialogue and cooperation in South Asia.<\/p>\n
In the webinar, eminent diplomats and policy-makers stressed the urgent revival of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), in view of the growing economic pressures and environmental threats in South Asia.<\/p>\n
The participants warned that further delay in the talks would deepen regional risks. They urged India to either help make SAARC functional or let other countries take the lead so that joint solutions to the problems facing the region can be found.<\/p>\n
Speakers warned that if the status quo continues, the region\u2019s vulnerabilities will become more prominent. Some participants also proposed a \u2018SAARC plus China\u2019 framework to connect South Asia with wider Asian networks.<\/p>\n
Former ambassador of Bangladesh Sufi Rahman criticized SAARC\u2019s failures, saying that the organization needs to be freed from excessive control by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and opened up to academia, think tanks and civil society. He also stressed the need to revise the four-decade-old SAARC charter to bring it in line with current requirements.<\/p>\n
Experts blamed India for the impasse and suggested that other member states should now take the initiative to convene SAARC meetings and revive the process.<\/p>\n
Former Indian minister and diplomat Mani Shankar Aiyar, describing India as the main obstacle to the peace process, suggested that if India continues to block SAARC meetings, the remaining seven countries\u2014Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan\u2014should independently move towards implementing SAFTA and create a \u201cnew circle of prosperity\u201d that would eventually compel India to rejoin.<\/p>\n
Former Pakistani minister Khurram Dastgir said that regional cooperation in South Asia, one of the world\u2019s poorest regions, could not be delayed any longer. He stressed strong financial linkages, improved road, air and maritime transport systems and warned of shared environmental threats, including in the upper Indus basin.<\/p>\n
These include melting glaciers and air pollution affecting Delhi and Lahore. He said that the decades-long Indus Water Treaty has been suspended after the Pahalgam incident of 2025, which is worrisome for the region.<\/p>\n
The role of the media and the involvement of youth in the peace process were also emphasized in the discussions.<\/p>\n
The participants criticized the mainstream media, saying that it often fuels hostility and increases tension, while the younger generations are largely unaware of the usefulness of SAARC.<\/p>\n
Pakistani activist Tahira Abdullah proposed a regional media charter and called for the development of joint digital content to mobilize youth. She highlighted the central role of women in peace-building and suggested a \u2018tripartite dialogue\u2019 on Kashmir in which the voice of the Kashmiri people should be included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi : Participants of a webinar organized by the India-based Centre for Peace and Progress have said that India is the biggest obstacle to the revival of SAARC and peace. According to Kashmir Media Service, the webinar chaired by OP Shah aimed to revive dialogue and cooperation in South Asia. In the webinar, eminent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199035"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199037,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199035\/revisions\/199037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}