Draft protocol urges free movement of South Asian journalists

Draft protocol urges free movement of South Asian journalists

Prior to the 11th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held in Kathmandu in the first week of January, journalists from the subcontinent gathered under the aegis of the South Asian Free Media Conference (SAFMA) to lobby for free movement of journalists across the South Asian region and urge free movement of media products, including newspapers, magazines, periodicals, books, cassettes,videos, computer software, electronically-transmitted feature and news stories.

Some 200 journalists, who took part in the meeting, which discussed the topic "Media and Peace" took out a peace march through the thoroughfares of Kathmandu Wednesday in a show of regional solidarity and to press their demands. They urged the South Asian leaders meeting there to pass a protocol on free movement of media persons and media products in the region. They passed a draft protocol to reaffirm "the need to promote free flow of and remove all impediments to free flow of and access to information."

The protocol urged the leaders of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the to remove all non-tariff barriers to free movement of persons with 10 years` "recognised professional standing." It called for grant of multiple entry five-year visas or single entry "gratis visas" to journalists without having to report to police stations in the visiting country, as Pakistani and Indian journalists visiting each other`s countries are required to do.

It said recognised journals of the region should be allowed to open their bureaus in the SAARC countries "with full rights and necessary protection." This was the second meeting of SAFMA. The first was held in Islamabad last year.Tension between India and Pakistan dominated the deliberations of the meeting, though speaker after speaker said the conference should not be reduced to an India-Pakistan affair.

A declaration issued at the end of the conference emphasised the media persons` "enormous responsibility" to peace and collective survival of the people of the region.It decried the tendency of many media practitioners to be "overwhelmed by the false consciousness and illusions of `national pride,` `national interest,` `one`s own war` and `foreign danger`," and cautioned against aggressive national chauvinism and jingoism.

The journalists agreed to pursue "as far as possible" professional integrity, independence and truthfulness in the interest of the entire region and to maintain an unflinching faith in universal democratic and humane values. Conference chairman Imtiaz Alam of Pakistan, who was elected secretary general of SAFMA for a three-year period, referred to the movement of troops by Pakistan and India along their borders and said the scenario was unprecedented, as both countries possessed nuclear weapons.

"The situation is so uncertain that a terrorist act, some subversion and an accident can push the subcontinent into a catastrophic endgame that may go out of the control of our leaders, who are good at brinkmanship and are too happy to pursue very narrow objectives," he said.

The conference stressed the role and responsibilities of the media in heralding peace and prosperity in the region. There were eight different sub-groups focussing on the issues of media, regional conflict, stabilizing Nuclear Regime, regional economic cooperation, information technology, governance, women rights and rights of ethnic and religious minorities. SAFMA has already worked out a policy for the free movement of media persons across the region. In July