Summit

Convened by the South Asian Free Media Association, the summit that gathered 150 journalists from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh said it would endeavor for reducing regional divisions, a press release said.

It hoped that the 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka would focus on improving ties, implementing the South Asia Free Trade Area agreement and the policy of free flow of information in the region.

SAARC groups India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

A declaration passed after two days of deliberations on Thursday and Friday called upon the member states and the SAARC summit to adopt SAFMA’s proposal of a free movement of media-people and media-products across the South Asian region.

Cooperation

The declaration called for a realization of the need to respond to the imperatives of the information revolution and to overcome the existing lack of cooperation among various media groups of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation member states. Given the absence of an effective freedom of or access to information law in the SAARC countries and the need to ensure the people’s right to know, SAFMA demanded from all governments to adopt its ‘freedom of information protocol’.

Press freedom

It stressed the responsibility of civil society organizations and professional bodies, such as South Asian Free Media Association, in raising issues such as human rights and press freedom in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries. It demanded the restoration of fundamental rights, press freedom, right to know and freedom of expression in Nepal and withdrawal of the press censorship.

Free trade

It welcomed the holding of the 13th SAARC Summit at Dhaka and hoped that all technical problems regarding a regional free trade zone would be resolved by implementing the Islamabad agreement. It appreciated the regional executive body’s decision to create its Afghanistan chapter and called upon the other SAARC members to include Afghanistan in the organization.

Right to know

The declaration reiterated its commitment to the right to help the people of the region in acquiring the right to know and the freedom of expression, as recognized by the United Nations as a “fundamental human right and the touchstone of all freedoms”, and all other political rights.

Trust

It also stressed the need to overcome information deficit among the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which is essential in creating understanding, building confidence, promoting cooperation and in facilitating the regional conflict resolutions through its protocol formed at the Kathmandu summit. It also called for the implementation of the ‘Proposed Protocol on Freedom of Information’ proposed by the SAARC Journalists Summit-I before the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit.

Earthquake

The SAFMA also expressed grief over the death and destruction caused by the South Asian earthquake that devastated parts of the divided Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province. The declaration applauded the efforts of the international community and the SAFMA’s initiative to create a ‘Journalists Rehabilitation Fund’ for journalists affected by the earthquake. It condemned the terrorist bomb blasts in New Delhi.

Nepal situation

The declaration expressed concern over the continuing suppression of press freedom and the ongoing press censorship in Nepal after the February proclamations of the Nepalese king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, that it said was aiming to reverse the democratic and constitutional processes. It expressed full solidarity with the media and civil society in Nepal struggling for the restoration of constitutional democracy, fundamental rights and the press freedom.