The Executive Council of Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO) Members States have unanimously condemned gross human rights violations being committed by Indian forces in illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The Council issued the Islamabad Declaration on the conclusion of the PAECO Assembly, which is a landmark outcome document, in which the forum extended unanimous support to the oppressed peoples of IIOJK and Palestine. The Executive council meeting was attended by all the Speakers from ECO countries.
The PAECO is a regional platform which aims at achieving prosperity, development, and peaceful coexistence among the member countries and for that end the member countries encouraged the participation of parliamentarians of member states for promoting and strengthening interstate relations. Pakistan played an instrumental role in formulation of Parliamentary Assembly of ECO to promote regional cooperation, the PAECO’s Secretariat is in National Assembly of Pakistan. It is the second conference of PAECO’s Speakers and parliamentarians after nine years.
The recent session of PAECO in Islamabad provides an opportunity to regional parliamentarians to share their problems, discuss opportunities for cooperation and forge better understanding among the regional countries. Although, the platform became more customary and traditional due to nonexecutive status and delayed contacts, however the parliamentarians can easily oversee the ongoing cooperation, trade and investment among the member states and formulate polices to meet the specific requirements.
Presently, ECO has ten member states all connected to each other through several bonds including geographic location, religion, history, environment, weather, and customs etc. The ECO member countries are full of resources and this platform provide them opportunity to utilize their resources for collective benefit and regional development. This platform provides them unique opportunity to forge this relationship into an effective economic and strategic partnership like European Union. The member states have shared destiny; therefore, they must work toward that objective. The recent consensus on Palestine and Kashmir disputes clearly depict the similarity of objectives and approach of the members states. There is a need to increase the pace of interaction, consultation, and coordination among the member countries at international forums for achieving their objectives.
