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COLOMBO: South Asian leaders on Saturday demanded strong action to stop terrorism spreading like "wildfire" as a regional summit opened here dominated by heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.
Terrorism is the most "menacing" challenge faced by the eight-country region, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai warned at the opening session of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)'s two-day summit.
Terrorism in the region has "institutional support," particularly in Pakistan, Karzai told the meeting, being held in the Sri Lankan capital under unprecedented security with nearly 20,000 police and troops deployed to guard delegates.
"It is time we all realise that the pursuit of narrow geo-political interest and the use of militant radicalism as instrument of policy cannot succeed or serve any long-term purpose," Karzai said.
Karzai's government is battling a Taliban-led insurgency it says is clandestinely supported by Islamabad.
"In Pakistan, terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a deeper grip as demonstrated by the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto," Karzai said as Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sat in the audience.
He called for "collective action to wipe out terrorism in the region" and safeguard the lives of future generations in the region made up of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Karzai last month blamed Pakistan's intelligence service for a deadly suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 60 people – a charge Islamabad has denied.
Gilani also identified terrorism as a main challenge that had to be fought "individually and collectively," a sentiment echoed by other SAARC leaders at the session, and condemned the attack against the Indian embassy.
The Pakistan premier was due to hold separate talks later Saturday with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to discuss the deeply strained peace process between the two countries.
"Terrorists and extremists know no borders," Singh said, emphasising that "a prosperous South Asia" needs also to be a "peaceful and stable South Asia."
In an interview in Nepal's Himal weekly, he asked Pakistan to implement in "letter and spirit" its pledge to end terrorist activities on its soil.
India has also blamed "elements" in Pakistan – meaning the state spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – for the attack on its Kabul embassy.
Tensions between India and Pakistan are seen overshadowing the summit, aimed at fostering greater economic cooperation in the impoverished region of 1.5 billion people.
Indian media say the government also suspects Islamabad's hand in bombings a week ago in the Indian cities of Ahmedabad and Bangalore that claimed 50 lives.
Singh described the attacks on Indian targets as "gruesome reminders of the barbarity that still finds a place" in South Asia.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, whose country is gripped by a deadly ethnic civil war, said the region faced "the curse of terrorism that threatens the peace and stability needed so much for the forward march of our people".
SAARC was founded in 1985 with the aim of deepening regional economic cooperation, but turmoil gripping the region has stymied progress.
Most often its meetings summits have been held hostage to animosity between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, SAARC's key members.
- AFP/so
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