Jan 22,04: Omar Noman on India. Pakistan, Kashmir and SAARC
The recent SAARC ( South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit, led to a landmark agreement to convert South Asia into a free trade area by 2006. More significantly, it acclerated the movement towards improved ties between India and Pakistan with even a solution to Kashmir seeming plausible.
The 12th SAARC summit recently held in Islamabad, Pakistan, was
hailed as a success both by the political leaders of the SAARC
countries and the media. The summit was preceded by a thaw in
relations between Pakistan and India and resulted in the signing
of the social charter, the agreement on Safta (south asian free
trade agreement) and the additional protocol on eliminating
terrorism. Bilateral talks between Pakistan and Indian heads of
states were held during the summit and the two countries agreed
to launch a dialogue to resolve conflicts between the two
countries including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
To discuss the results of the summit and possibility of peace
between Pakistan and India, we will talk with Omar Noman, Deputy
director of HDRO, UNDP, NY. Since Mr noman is an avid fan of
cricket and has written a book about it, we cannot exclude
discussion on cricket when we talk to Mr Noman.
====================
OMAR NOMAN is the Deputy Director of the Human Development Report
Office, UNDP, New York. He is part of the team, which annually
writes the Human Development Report. He has been involved with
many socio-economic projects around the world. His long list of
former positions include teaching Economics at Oxford, Director
of Economic Policy Research Unit, Pakistan, and Prime Minister’s
advisory committee on Human Security at the Atomic Energy
Commission, Pakistan. His achievements include a long list of
depressing sounding books revolving around economic progress in
South Asia, and an exciting book on Cricket.
