ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: Over-centralised federalism would hardly work in the new changing South Asian realities as almost all the countries in the region are undergoing conflicts and new social movements are emerging.

This was the crux of deliberations on the second day of the Sustainable Development Conference here on Tuesday. The event has been organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the UN-sponsored project – Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Democracy (SDPD).

Highlighting the appalling situation of human and social development in South Asian countries, the experts urged the governments to collectively and genuinely resolve deep-rooted internal and mutual conflicts, which were causing tremendous negative social, economic, political and environmental effects within and across the region.

Dr Bishnu Raj Upreti and Sulava Piya from Nepal in their papers focused on the consequences of armed conflict in Nepal and the negative impact on the country’s economy as well as women.

They said tourism was the key contributor to economic growth in the Himalayan state and the conflict had very negative impacts on it, adding that now with the change of government the situation was improving.

“The armed conflict in Nepal had displaced more than 600,000 people while among them majority of displaced girls are vulnerable to abuses,” they said.

Talking about identity politics and minorities, Rasul Bakhsh Rais said in Pakistan, the relationship between religion and state remained unclear. What type of Pakistan policy should be, whether liberal, democratic or Islamic, evokes different responses, he said.

Ahmed Salim from SDPI said minorities enormously contributed to saving the lives of Muslim and Hindu immigrants during 1947, besides voting positively in a crucial election to include Lahore in Pakistan. He proposed formation of an independent minority rights commission.

Dr Tariq Rahman from the Quaid-i-Azam University deplored that our society had low-level acceptance of minority’s rights. The state policy regarding minority rights should be reviewed, he said, adding true representative democracy and constitutional politics were the best institutional tools to protect and advance the interests of religious minorities.

Faisal Gorchani of SDPI, in his paper on the “Costs of Balochistan Conflict”, said over-centralized federalism would now hardly work in the new changing realities in the South Asian context.

Presenting an interesting analysis, he said the conflict had led to tremendous economic, political, socio-developmental, psychological and opportunity costs caused to both the involved parties.

Dr. Nathlene Reynolds, a visiting fellow at SDPI, explored the political and ideological implications of the Kashmir issue for India. Mehboob Sada, director Christian Study Center, urged an inter-faith dialogue to build positive relationship between different religious groups.

At the session on “Energy sharing across borders”, Deepti Mahajan from India suggested sharing of renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind energies. She also said building of electricity grids along the borders of neighboring countries would help transfer of electricity. While another Indian researcher, Shripad Dharmadhikary, emphasised that there was a need to completely assess the benefits of building dams.

Dr Muhammad Imran from the Massey University, New Zealand, said energy production should be shifted from oil to alternative resources, adding our reliance should be on other resources like better land use, sustainable transport policies and clean technologies to reduce energy consumption.

Moeed Yusuf from Pardee, the University of Boston, USA, argued that projects like Gwadar and IPI had made the prospects of energy sharing the only sustainable means of ensuring energy security real, and that these ought to remain the focus of South Asian governments.

He suggested that options like nuclear energy were second-best alternatives, which might be important in public perception but actually remained economically uncompetitive and politically sensitive.

He cautioned against laying too much importance on nuclear energy as a means to energy security for South Asian countries.

Environmental Fiscal Reforms (EFR) are not taken into consideration by the policymakers, pointed out by Dr Aurangzeb Khan of the Planning Commission in the session on “Pro-poor environmental fiscal reforms”.

Dr Usman Mustafa from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), while discussing the Emergency First Response (EFR) options in the safe drinking water, highlighted the fact that water was life and safe drinking water was the primary need of the poor communities, which were vulnerable to water-borne diseases.

Iftikhar Ahmed of PIDE stressed on the need for engagement and encouragement of the poor communities to play their role in the solid waste management sector.

The session concluded with emphasis on good governance required for sustainability of good environment.

University of Swat Vice-Chancellor Dr Mohammad Rasool Jan lamented that 2,000 schools had been destroyed in Swat depriving 120,000 students of getting education during the ongoing conflict situation. He urged the need for peace and normalcy in Swat.