People’s SAARC 2007

Planning Meeting
19 February 2006

Kathmandu

A regional level planning meeting on People’s SAARC was organized in Kathmandu on 19 February 2007. Delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka representing civil society federations, alliances, networks including peasants' association, youths and students organizations, trade unions, cultural groups, religious council, dalits, indigenous nationalities and disabled federations, women associations, natural resources users' groups, professional organizations, parliamentarians, media professionals, teachers and some other regional organisations and alliances such as SAAPE, SAFMA, SAPC, SAP – International, SANFEC, Imagine South Asia, South Asian Peace Alliance participated in the meeting that endorsed to host People's SAARC in Kathmandu as well as further discussed the issues common to the region and preparatory process of the people's SAARC. The participants shared country processes going around the SAARC Summit, which would link the regional process, People's SAARC, in Kathmandu, and culminates in People's Conference in Asia, New Delhi.

The People's SAARC is a focal point and platform for sharing, forging and strengthening solidarity linkages along like-minded action groups, resources agencies, progressive individuals, among others with the common aim of promoting movement for democracy, justice and build peoples resistance against the forces of globalisation across nations. This alliance should be based on people-to-people contacts rooted in a culture of friendship, ethical and moral values shared by the common people; partnership and common bond that transcend borders and sectoral and organisational concerns. This calls for an attitude to learn from each others struggles and strengthen the relationships and alliances already underway in our own societies.

The issues agreed upon were to tackle regionally the problems of communal violence, ethnic strife, conflict over use of natural resources, eviction across state boundaries, issues of economic migration, sharing of water resources, harnessing of energy, combating fundamentalism, minority rights, discrimination, exclusion, human rights, peace, governance, migration and trade. The People's SAARC would seek to address the issues and come up with the Kathmandu Declaration/people's charter, which would be submitted, to the official SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu. The charter would also evolve as a tool to take the process beyond.

The People's SAARC will follow the process of strategic meeting, conferences, discussions, seed fair, peace festivals, cultural shows, parliamentarian forum, rally and demonstration and mass meeting in an open air theatre. It would bring thousands of people including prominent national and regional personalities who would facilitate the sessions, deliver keynote speech and address the mass.

On completion of People's SAARC, some delegates will go to Delhi to join the country process and also during the official SAARC summit to put the issues and concerns emerged in the People's SAARC in Kathmandu. Indian delegates will have an important role to make lobby during the SAARC Summit.

1. Identification of Issues

All present in the meeting voluntarily divided into three sub-groups and discussed a number of issues common to South Asia. After the discussion, they met up in the plenary with alternative models in order to find out interventions for particular problems identified which was present in the plenary followed by panel discussion. The issues then concretised into broader themes as below which would be the themes of the conferences during the People's SAARC.

a. Growth and Exclusion

b. Democracy, Peace and Constitutional Issues

Parallel thematic discussions with opening and closing cultural shows will be facilitated under the broader themes with the seed fair and peace festivals in side by side.

2. Endorsement of People’s SAARC

The meeting endorsed to host the regional People's SAARC in Kathmandu on 23-25 March. The meeting mandated Nepal to take the process ahead as a host country, where representatives from SAARC countries would be involving in the process and deliberation. A secretariat of People’s SAARC would be stationed at NGO Federation of Nepal, in Kathmandu. The secretariat would review and finalize the concept note of the People's SAARC in light to the discussions/suggestions of the preparatory meeting and circulate.

3. Formation of Regional Coordination Committee

The meeting formed a People's SAARC regional coordination committee to effectively manage and facilitate the processes. The Committee will form other subcommittees necessarily such as mobilization committee, management committee, fundraising committee, media mobilization committee to facilitate the process. The coordination committee comprises the following members:

• Zakia Jowher, India
• Arjimund India (Kashmir)
• Karamat Ali Pakistan
• Rokeya Kabir Bangladesh
• Mohammed Mahuruf Sri Lanka
• Mohan Tamang Bhutan
• Ajit Muricken India
• Netra Timsina Nepal

All the members of the coordination committee will take the message of the preparatory meeting to their respective countries, share with other processes including national and plan accordingly to mobilise and bring the people to the People’s SAARC. They will also extend link between national and regional processes.

4. Participants

More than 70 delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the meeting. Details follow.