In a press statement titled 'Peoples Sovereignty Declaration',

the Forum expressed deep concern over the systematic erosion of peoples' sovereignty in South Asia.

The statement also urged South Asian governments to adopt effective measures to eliminate all forms of violation of human rights.

The statement was prepared following a three-day programme which ended at Delduar in Tangail on Friday. A total of 75 participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka took part in it.

"The participants at the forum pledged in a spirit of cooperation to continue to work together across the borders and build peace in the region," said the statement read out by Shalini Bhutani at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city.

"Peoples' sovereignty must have to be ensured for their security... and we think peoples' sovereignty would be ensured if security of peoples' life, livelihood and movement is ensured," said Farhad Mazhar, an organiser of SPF, while replying to queries of the journalists.

The statement said corporate control of natural heritage, biological resources and peoples' knowledge is becoming the major cause of instability and violence in the region.

"The region already faced unprecedented natural disaster since last Saarc summit. Any disaster management plan will be artificial and unreal if it is not designed to address the depletion of biodiversity. The loss of biodiversity itself needs to be seen and dealt with as a disaster," it added.

The Forum in its statement also said, "Growing corporate control through increasing economic concentration and the resultant shift and consolidation of power into private hands is a severe threat to peoples' freedom and sovereignty, and the South Asian governments are increasingly using security paradigms to take away people's fundamental rights."

"We are always against the privatisation of biological resources and traditional knowledge through intellectual property rights (IPR) such as patents and plant variety protection rights," the participants of the Forum said, adding farm-saved seeds are at the centre of farming in South Asia and these are now threatened by IPR.

Referring to recent movements at Nandigram of India and Fulbari in Bangladesh, the SPF strongly condemned such acts of the state in the name of economic development.

The Forum urged all South Asian countries to ratify the UN Convention on Migrants saying, "Migration is a human right, and security of movement for livelihood must be ensured."

Shree Ram Shrestha of Nepal, Ranjit de Silva of Sri Lanka, Krishna Kumar, Samuel Alexander, Ramesh Prasad Adhikari and Bhaskar Goswami of India, Qamar Mohiuddin of Pakistan, Farida Akhter, SM Altaf, Nasiruddin Elan and Palash Baral of Bangladesh were present at the press conference.