Tuesday, Aug 12, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
In his brief comments to the visiting group of Indian parliamentarians, security and strategic experts and journalists at a luncheon hosted in their honour, Mr. Jamali repeated thrice that Pakistan favoured peace. But he hastened to add that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir would have to be resolved by India and Pakistan together. ``It is expected that the bigger country would make greater sacrifice,'' he said without elaborating. He was all praise for the rulers in both countries and hoped that they would make all efforts for the welfare of the people. The Indian contingent, the largest since 1998, is here as part of the track-two diplomacy at the invitation of the Pakistan chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA). It took part in a two-day conference on "confidence building and conflict resolution" which called for speeding up of normalisation of ties through an "integrated, uninterruptible, result-oriented and well-structured process".
Laloo steals the show
Among the Indian MPs were Laloo Prasad Yadav, former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD leader, the former Union Minister, Ramvilas Paswan, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Congress Working Committee member, and Balbir K. Punj, who led the BJP members. Right from the moment the delegation landed at the Wagha border on August 9, Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav has been the centre of media attention. He raised a few eyebrows in the Pakistani establishment and the general public by making an unpublicised visit to `Lal Haveli' in Rawalpindi (constituency of the Pakistan Information Minister). The perception among independent observers here is that the conference was unique in several ways given the nature of relations between the two countries in the last few days. Mr. Ramvilas Paswan, who is on his first visit to Pakistan, said it had helped him understand Pakistan and its people better. ``Several myths in my mind about Pakistan are demolished,'' he said. Parties representing the entire Indian political spectrum attended the conference of parliamentarians, journalists and experts jointly organised by the Pakistani and Indian chapters of the SAFMA with the sponsorship of a Norwegian non-governmental organisation, NORAD.
Message of cooperation
The call of parliamentarians from almost all major political parties of India and Pakistan in both the indoor and open sessions was the need for peace and friendship. The message of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the conference for cooperation to replace confrontation had gone down well here. Welcoming the Prime Minister's call for ``cooperation'' to resolve bilateral problems, Pakistan today hoped that India would ``move fast'' to resume dialogue. ``We appreciate the Indian Prime Minister's desire for lessening of misperception and mistrust between the two countries,'' the Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, told a weekly briefing to the media. The tone and tenor of Mr. Vajpayee's message was appreciable, the spokesman said and hoped that India would move fast to resume dialogue, for which there should be a calendar. At the concluding session, the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, echoed the same sentiments and said Islamabad favoured quick resolution of all differences with India.Just another conference room away in the same hotel, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, called for rewriting of the SAARC charter in the interest of the region, saying Pakistan wanted resolution of all disputes with India, including Kashmir by negotiations. Addressing a seminar on `South Asia and Global Powers' under the aegis of the Institute of Regional Studies, the President said people of the region were facing poverty, ill-health and lack of education facilities. Indo-Pakistan hostilities were affecting all populations of the region, he said.
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