Pakistan proposes police force ISLAMABAD – SAARC Interior Ministers moot has approved the resolutions for joint efforts against terrorism and smuggling whereas India has stressed more effective cooperation between the member countries against challenge of terrorism. Home ministers from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives, besides India and Pakistan, participate in the conference that focuses on security and counter-terror cooperation among South Asian countries. Interior Minister Rehman Malik presided over the meeting of SAARC Interior Ministers conference here on Saturday. Addressing the inaugural session, Malik has presented Pakistan's policy for regional cooperation and highlighted the objectives of the conference. Pakistan proposed a SAARC police force on the lines of Interpol to facilitate information exchanges in the region. “SAARC police force was necessary to facilitate information exchange in the South Asian region,” said the Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik. He said SAARC member countries should also work towards eradication of terrorism from the region. Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram while addressing the conference said terrorism is affecting regional cooperation and economic growth of the region. Underlining the serious security situation in South Asia, he pitched for fullest cooperation among the SAARC countries to share information on potential terrorists and planned acts of terrorism to combat the common menace. “The increasing threat of terrorism poses a major challenge to the maintenance of peace and security and adversely affects economic development in our region,” Chidambaram said. The Ministers focus on a 13-point agenda which includes changes in immigration and visa laws, prevention of drug, terrorism, human trafficking, money laundering and maritime security. This is the first visit by an Indian home minister to Pakistan in decades and the first ministerial visit from India to Islamabad since the terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008 that froze the composite dialogue between the two countries.
