Kolkata, Sep 27 (IANS): Over 200 rights organisations from South Asia will participate in a conference here ahead of the centenary celebrations of the provisional government-in-exile established by Indian nationalists in Afghanistan during World War I.

Organised by the Bangladesh Bharat Pakistan People's Forum (BBPPF), the three-day long South Asia People's Conference begins Oct 16 where representatives from democratic, secular and progressive organizations will participate.

"These organisations aspire for a closer-knit South Asia and the conference seeks to rekindle the spirit of anti-colonialism epitomized by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose...," BBPPF general secretary Manik Samajdar said.

Samajdar said representatives from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Maldives are also likely to join the conference with a view to expand the forum's scope beyond the three countries where it currently exists.

Established Dec 1, 1915 by Muslim Indian nationalists, the purpose of the Provisional Government of India was to enroll support from both the Afghan Emir, as well as Tsarist (and later Bolshevik) Russia, China and Japan for the Indian Movement.

Later Oct 21, 1943 Bose established the the 'Arzi Huqumat -e- Azad Hind' - an Indian provisional government in Singapore with support from Japan.