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We have a common agenda, say Pak. MPs

By Our Staff Reporter

The Pakistani delegation, led by the Pakistan People's Party MP, Chaudhry Mansoor Ahmad, paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI OCT. 11. Paying tribute to Gandhiji at the Rajghat here today, a visiting delegation of members of Parliament from Pakistan reiterated the need to remember his legacy.

"The Mahatma was a man of peace. We are on his mission of peace and we carry this message from President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali. I hope the lack of trust that exists in both countries will disappear and that there will be more such interactions between the people of India and Pakistan. There are three tiers of interaction. If the Governments are unwilling to talk, at least we can keep the people-to-people contact alive. The channels of communication between business to business should also continue,'' said the Senator, Tariq Azeem Khan.

Echoing these sentiments, Choudhry Manzoor Ahmed said: "There is a common agenda for both the countries. We can talk about hunger, unemployment and poverty. Both countries are facing a similar situation, with the World Trade Organisation regulations and the onslaught of multi-national companies. The general public in both our countries are the affected ones and we should put pressure on both the Governments to move towards talks.''

Organised by the president of the Association of Peoples of Asia, Nirmala Deshpande, it was an occasion to cherish the shared heritage. "We want to change the current situation and tell the Governments that they will have to listen to the people. The peace process gets disrupted on the issue of Kashmir or cross-border terrorism, but we want the people-to-people contact to continue. There are vested interests that don't want the peace process to succeed. There is a big war industry that thrives on supplying arms. But people from both countries, unfortunately, get stuck in between. The war mongering should stop. If the Governments of both the countries decide on finding a solution, they will be able to when they talk. If they start talks believing that it won't happen, then they won't find a way out,'' stated Fauiza Wahab.

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