The forum also recognised the importance of using water from rivers common to Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries to ensure benefit to the people of this region.

The three-day event at Ridoypur of Delduar upazila in Tangail concluded yesterday with a declaration urging all top leaders of the South Asian countries to be cooperative at the 14th Saarc Summit to resolve the problems.

The Ridoypur declaration will be formally announced at a press conference in the capital today.

"We want to build good relationship among the peoples of South Asia and we also want to make them aware of the corporate interest," Farhad Mazhar of Nayakrishi Andolon that organised the forum told The Daily Star.

The forum leaders proposed setting up a people's commission to examine all issues related to protection of biodiversity and security of livelihood.

In its declaration, the forum called for uniting South Asian peoples to ensure their sovereignty.

Expressing concerns over violation of the constitutional and fundamental rights due to the state's mentality to serve the interests of corporations, the forum leaders said people's right to harness natural resources must be protected.

"The Saarc has the opportunity to enhance cooperation among the governments in a potential way that would bring trust among them that is very much important for human rights protection mechanism," human rights activist Altafur Rahman said in his presentation during a session.

Discussants in different sessions yesterday demanded stopping extra-judicial killings in border areas and urged the countries concerned to take effective initiatives for balanced trade transactions.

As a large country, India should take steps to build trust among others countries, they said.

Terming bird flu a result of industrial poultry, the participants expressed fears that in the wake of outbreak of bird flu a vested group tried to promote their medicine, temiflu.

The industrial poultry was brought in the region to destroy the peoples' indigenous knowledge of domestic poultry, they said.

Referring to the killings at Nandigram in India, the speakers expressed concerns that the farmers and indigenous people of Nandigram are going to lose their land in the name of industrialisation.

They condemned governments for opening floodgates to private industries and large businesses at the cost of people's lives and livelihoods. They strongly opposed the primacy being given to private enterprises.

Terming migration a human right, the forum demanded ensuring security of movement for livelihood. It expressed deep concerns over the enormous growth of internally displaced people in the South Asian countries.

"A large number of people in South Asia are engaged as overseas migrant workers and are contributing to [their countries'] earning of foreign currencies. So, their rights must be protected and secured," the forum said. Besides ratifying the UN convention, there should be a common policy on migrant workers in the Saarc countries, it added.

The forum also expressed concerns over the long-practised caste-based discrimination in the region along with the treatment of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities like the Urdu-speaking community in Bangladesh or the Bangla-speaking community in Pakistan.

The participants urged the governments to treat the minority communities with respect and protect their dignity.

Shree Ram Shrestha, Benu Gurung, Shalini Bhutani, Bhaskar Goswami, Farida Akhter, MA Sobhan, Krishna Soman and Ranjit de Silva, among others, took part in the discussion sessions yesterday.

South Asia Network on Food, Ecology and Culture (SANFEC), Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PANAP), SANTI, Resistance Network, Genetic Resources Action International, and FTN Asia jointly organised the forum hosted by UBINIG and Odhikar.

The programme concluded with a cultural presentation in the evening.