Friday, November 11 2005 19:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: Slamming the SAARC countries for their "slow pace" in addressing issues of terrorism and poverty alleviation, Bangladesh Opposition parties have asked leaders meeting for the regional Summit here to adopt "realistic" approaches going beyond the politics of mistrust and suspicion.

"SAARC should not be a gala show of extravaganza or exchange of greetings and niceties but should adopt a forward looking policy," they said as leaders from the seven-member grouping started arriving here for Summit beginning tomorrow (November 12, 2005).

"SAARC has failed to achieve its target. We do not see any effective measure to curb terrorism in the region...we see no effective step to eradicate poverty," Bangladesh daily 'The Independent' quoted Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil as saying.

Jatiya Party leader G M Kader said it was "meaningless" to continue with SAARC in the manner it was being run and wanted the member states to go ahead and implement concrete proposals to make the grouping effective and in tune with changing times.

"Twenty years have passed since the launching of SAARC, but confrontation among Governments continues," he said.

In a similar vein, Mujahid Islam Selim, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, regretted that SAARC has not come to peoples' expectations. "If poor countries of the region have to survive, SAARC must build up multilateral regional cooperation," he stressed.

The 1947 mindset have to be radically changed, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Huq Inu stressed contending this would open the front door of regional cooperation and pave the way for establishing joint commissions on water, energy, environment and multi-modal transport system.