South Asian governments urged to stress on welfare

06 Jan, 2004

Chairperson South Asia People's Partnership (Pakistan Chapter) Bushra Gohar has said the organisation is calling upon governments in the region to focus on mending the miseries of their people.
"There is a need to review afresh the Saarc system to bring it at par with the people's aspirations," Bushra Gohar told BBC Radio.
The organisation, which concluded a three-day 'people's summit' on the sideline of Saarc summit on Sunday, has forwarded several demands through a resolution.
Bushra said, the main focus of the people's summit is, to assemble the people of the region and provide them a forum to discuss their problems and make recommendations for their solution.
"It is an encouraging sign that 700 people have assembled in Islamabad," she said, adding, "it is a very big voice, which will reach the heads of governments through media."
She said, the organisation was trying its best to make South Asia a nuclear-free zone and to reduce military spending by 10 percent annually. "We wish the money thus saved be spent on social sector."
She said: "Mutual contacts are very important, therefore, the organisation demands that visa procedure be reviewed and every South Asian national should get visa at the port of entry".

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