SAARC to create regional security network

To deal with terrorism, the SAARC countries have decided to create a regional security network and have agreed to finalise the mutual legal assistance agreement.

To deal with terrorism, the SAARC countries have decided to create a regional security network and have agreed to finalise the mutual legal assistance agreement.

The eight foreign ministers of the forum, who met here, agreed to operationalise the SAARC Development Fund immediately to promote social development in the region. A temporary cell is being established in the SAARC Secretariat for the fund’s operationalisation and immediate implementation of the identified projects, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told mediapersons after the meeting.

The fund already has a corpus of $300 million with India pledging $100 million.

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The Council of Ministers of the SAARC also endorsed the grouping’s Home Ministers’ recommendations for a security network within the association, he said. A meeting of legal advisers to finalise the agreement will be held in Colombo in April next year, he added.

Meanwhile, on reports that Malaysia has alleged that activists of Indian origin with “LTTE connection” were creating trouble in that country, Mukherjee said he hasn’t seen reports of Malaysian authorities. He, however, said: “Terrorists have no nationality. In respect of any terrorist connection, all countries are entitled to take any appropriate action according to their laws and international conventions.”