Observing that the recent blast at its embassy in Kabul shows the vulnerability of SAARC nations to terrorism, India on Thursday pressed for early finalisation of the regional Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to deal with the menace.

"SAARC governments have a collective responsibility to ensure that growth and development within the region takes place in a crime-free atmosphere where people feel secure," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a FICCI function.

"The recent bomb blasts in Kabul that targeted our embassy emphasises how vulnerable South Asia continues to be on terrorism," he said.

Mukherjee said that India had initiated discussions on a draft convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Expressing confidence that discussions on such a treaty would be finalised at the forthcoming SAARC summit, he said that "This will enable us to implement actions against such crimes in the neighbourhood with regional cooperation."

The External Affairs Minister also emphasised on the need for a liberalised visa regime within SAARC countries.

He said that India was in talks with interlocutors in Pakistan on increasing the categories for visa applicants.

"We have given them various suggestions for identifying 300 traders and businessmen but we want to increase the categories to include students and ordinary citizens specially those who are above 60 and pilgrims," he said.

"If we cover a broad segment of people, automatically the ultimate objective of having a visa free and hassle free travel between SAARC countries would be materialised," Mukherjee said.

He said he would hand over a proposal to formalize interactions with industrialists and businessmen at the SAARC level.

"We can institutionalise the interactions and make formal interventions, of course with the support and cooperation of the nations," the minister said.

He said while strengthening its intra-regional links, SAARC is also strengthening its global links through the observers.

"We have also accelerated the establishment of the Project Office of the South Asian University. Land for the university has been identified near the Indira Gandhi National Open University and we are in the process of acquiring it," he said.

Also read:
SAARC: Formation and objectives