They said though the region is badly affected by terrorist activities, the fighting against terrorism does not get ground due to lack of common strategy and extradition treaty between the countries.

Edited by Prof Imtiaz Ahmed of Dhaka University, the book titled 'Understanding Terrorism in South Asia Beyond Statist Discourses' contains articles by strategic experts from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The launching ceremony was organised by The Daily Star at the Bangladesh Institute of International Strategic Studies (BIISS).

Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam moderated the function.

"It is very important for South Asia to develop a strategy for counter-terrorism in the region," said Faruq Sobhan, former foreign secretary.

He termed the publication of the book very timely and underscored the need for finding out the root causes of terrorism.

Sobhan laid emphasis on regular interaction and roundtable for exchanging views among the Saarc countries for evolving the common strategy.

"Malgovernance in a state, marginalisation of communities, and national deprivation have contributed directly to the expansion and consolidation of non-state terrorism," said Muhamamd Zamir, former ambassador.

Globalisation has also provided fresh impetus to terrorism in terms of international network, he added.

Zamir said though attempts were made several times, a common South Asian extradition treaty has not yet been agreed upon.

"The current tendency to term liberation wars against occupation and repression terrorism is a gross misunderstanding of the history," said Dr M Enamul Hoque, adding liberation of France from Nazi Germany cannot be called an act of terror.

Major General (Retd) Amin Ahmed Chowdhury said sending of troops to Chittagong Hill Tracts was a wrong decision as it was responsible for forcing the tribal people to resort to insurgency against the government.

Mutual suspicion and distrust have complicated and frustrated the efforts to combat terrorism in South Asia, said Mufleh R Osmany, director general of BIISS, in a written comments on the book.

He could not attend the function because of illness.

Explaining the recent trends in Islamic terrorism, Imtiaz Ahmed pointed out that almost all the Islamic countries spoke against al Qaeda-led terrorism.

He underscored the need for in-depth reporting on the root causes of terrorism in the print media.

The speakers pointed out that the terrorism in the area was often a direct outcome of state actions.

They also blamed the West for terrorist activities in the Middle East and other regions.

Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Douglas Foskett, former inspector general of police Nurul Huda, journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, Brigadier (Retd) Shakhawat Hossain and Shahedul Anam Khan also spoke on occasion.

The book was published by Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo.