NN Online:
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Thursday reiterated his call to the South Asian leaders to activate SAARC in order to benefit the people across the entire region.
“South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is very important to me. I spoke about activating the forum immediately after taking oath as the chief adviser but SAARC is not functioning due to some issues between India and Pakistan.” he said.
The chief adviser made this remark while addressing a conference of the SAARC Federation of Oncologists (SFO) through video-conference from the State Guest House Jamuna.
A delegation of SFO also met Chief Adviser Prof Yunus at the Jamuna.
The chief adviser said all South Asia will benefit from activating SAARC which remained dysfunctional due to some issues between India and Pakistan.
“Problems between the two countries should not affect other countries in South Asia,” he said adding that “If South Asian leaders meet every year, stand together and take pictures; then a message goes to the whole world that we are united. This will present the South Asian countries before the world in a positive way and will help us move forward.”
During the meeting, the chief adviser paid tribute to SFO founder Prof Dr ABMF Karim and recalled his memories with him.
At that time, Prof Yunus also remembered his younger brother, also writer and television personality Muhammad Jahangir, and shared the sufferings that his entire family had gone through after his brother’s diagnosis with cancer. The chief adviser highlighted how Dr Karim helped him in the treatment of his brother at that time.
“We are still not getting the technical support we need for cancer treatment. The role of SAARC in providing treatment to cancer patients is very inspiring,” he added.
