Round II of India-Pakistan Parliamentary Dialogue began here in Vigyan Bhawan Annexe,
New Delhi on Thursday. A-19 member Pakistan Parliamentary delegation
interacted with their Indian counterparts in a comprehensive review of
relations between the two countries and discussed means of moving
forward.
In order to do so, they discussed various issues, including
strengthening of people to people contact and need for a liberal visa
regime. Other issues that were also deliberated upon during Day 1 of
the Round –II of Dialogue included terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir,
water, role of media, removal of the trust deficit and developing a
future mechanism to carry forward Parliamentary Dialogue Process.
In the two sessions during the day, spread over several hours,
Parliamentarians also made specific proposals. These will be discussed
today (Friday) also. This will help the Parliamentarians evolve a
follow-up action plan. These will then be forwarded to the Governments
in the two countries as policy inputs for improving relations between
the two countries.
Pakistan delegation is co-lead by Senator Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali,
Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan, and Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi, MNA,
Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, while seasoned MPs from
Pakistan and India, Senator S. M. Zafar (Punjab, PML), former Federal
Minister for Law, Pakistan and Mr. Yashwant Sinha, former Union
Minister for External Affairs and Finance, India (Jharkhand, BJP)
co-chaired of the 1st day of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians
Dialogue – II.
Indian Parliamentarians who joined the interaction with their
Pakistan counterparts included Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Member Lok Sabha,
BJP, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member, Rajya
Sabha, Indian National Congress (INC), Mr. Mohammed Adeeb, Member,
Rajya Sabha, (Ind.), Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Naresh Gujral, Member, Rajya
Sabha, Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab, Mr. Rajniti Prasad, Member Rajya
Sabha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bihar, Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz, Member,
Rajya Sabha, Indian National Congress, Jammu & Kashmir, Mr.
Asaduddin Owaisi, Member Lok Sabha, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul
Muslimeen, Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh, Mr. Baijayant Jay Panda, Member
Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal, Kendrapara, Orissa, Mr. Kalikesh Narayan
Singh Deo, Member Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bolangir, Orissa,
Mr. Naveen Jindal, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Kurukshetra, Haryana, Mr.
Raashid Alvi, Member Rajya Sabha, INC, Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Shashi
Tharoor, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Syed Azeez
Pasha, Member Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India, Hyderabad, Mr.
Tathagata Satpathy, Member Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal, Orissa and Mr.
Vijay Bahuguna, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
The Pakistan delegation, other than the Deputy Presiding Officers of
the Parliament of Pakistan, includes Senator Afrasiab Khattak ANP,
Senator Jehangir Bader, Senator Saeeda Iqbal and Senator S.M. Zafar.
Members from the National Assembly of Pakistan include Ms. Anusha
Rehman, MNA, Dr. Ayatullah Durrani, MNA, Haider Abbas Rizv, Humayun
Saifullah Khan, Laiq Muhammad Khan, MNA, Lal Chand, Khurram Dastgir
Khan, Nadeem Afzal Gondal, Nafisa Shah, Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan,
Qamar Zaman Kaira, Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari and Shahid Khaqan
Abbasi,. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Special Secretary, Senate, Moosa Raza
Effendi, Additional Secretary, Public Accounts Committee, National
Assembly participated as observers in the Dialogue representing the
Parliamentary Secretariats while Ambassador (Retd.) Khalid Mahmood,
former Director General, Foreign Minister of Pakistan’s Office, serves
as Rapporteur to the Dialogue. The PILDAT team is led by Mr. Ahmed
Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director and includes Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint
Director, Mr. Hmmal Dostain and Ms. Wajiha Kanwal, Projects Managers of
PILDAT.
The Pakistan-India Parliamentarians’ Dialogue – I was facilitated by
PILDAT in Islamabad, Pakistan on January 06-07, 2011 in which a
7-member Indian Parliamentary delegation engaged with multi-party group
of Pakistani MPs on topics including strengthening people to people
contact, a liberal visa regime; terrorism; Jammu and Kashmir; Water;
Role of Media; removing the trust deficit and other issues like role of
women, trade, role of Military and Intelligence Agencies and
continuation of Dialogue and exchange programmes SANA
