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Start talking: ASEAN to India, Pakistan

G Sudhakar Nair in Bandar Seri Begwan (Brunei)

Recognising terrorism as a global threat, Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday vowed to fight it together, while calling upon India and Pakistan to resume dialogue and settle their differences peacefully to restore peace and stability in the region.

Declaring that peace and stability in South Asia was important to the whole region and beyond, the ten ASEAN foreign ministers at the end of their 35th meeting in Bandar Seri Begwan expressed the hope that New Delhi and Islamabad would take all necessary steps to defuse tensions.

The ASEAN assessment of Indo-Pak standoff was reflected in the joint communique issued at the meeting, while reviewing regional and security issues.

It came on the eve of the one-day meeting of Asia's biggest security grouping comprising 23 western and Asian countries.

Sinha, who reached on Tuesday morning, is participating in the deliberations of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which is also expected to voice its concern on the tensions between India and Pakistan.

The nine-page 54 para communique, while devoting one paragraph to Indo-Pak relations also welcomed the intention of India along with Russia and China to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.

The treaty served as the framework governing relations among Southeast Asian states and those outside the region.

The Communique came down heavily on terrorism and pleaded for concrete initiatives and concerted efforts at all levels.

"We recognise that terrorism is a global threat and that the disturbing acts of terrorism and transnational crimes, which continue to threaten world peace and stability, must be tackled by the international community," the communique said.

Brunei Foreign Minister Mohamed Bolkiah told a press conference after the meeting that 'one of the things we specially concentrated was on the problem of terrorism and what to do about it'.

He said the ASEAN and the US were working towards a declaration of cooperation to combat international terrorism during the ARF meeting on Wednesday.

ASEAN's initiatives in deepening its ties with India was taken note of in the communique when it referred to the idea of ASEAN-India summit, the first such ASEAN plus one summits with other dialogue partners. India is among the ten dialogue partners, which includes the US and China.

PTI

Terrorism Strikes in Jammu and Kashmir: The complete coverage

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