From Islamabad to New Delhi, to talk

Consolidating small gains in the India-Pakistan relationship, a large contingent of members of the national legislature from Pakistan will be arriving here for a meeting with Indian counterparts on Wednesday for a two-day India-Pakistan parliamentarians’ dialogue on Thursday and Friday.

There will be 20 members from each side. The Indian side is to be led by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha. He would be co-chair of the meet, his counterpart being S M Zafar, from the Pakistan Muslim League in Punjab and former law minister. This is the second such meeting of parliamentarians from the two countries. Among those coming would be Mohammad Khan Jamali, deputy chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, the upper house, and Faisal Karim Kundi, deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house.

A large number of Indian MPs will be joining the dialogue. They include Mani Shankar Aiyar (Cong), Chandan Mitra (BJP), E M S Natchiappan(Congress) H K Dua and Javed Akhtar (both nominated) N K Singh (JD-U), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Rashid Alvi (Cong), Brinda Karat (CPM) and Rajeev Chandrashekhar (Ind).

The profiles of those coming from across the border are interesting. Afrasiab Khattak from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is a former student leader, writer and prominent human rights activist. He has served as the president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for a three-year-term. Humayun Khan Mandokhel (Balochistan, Independent), is an engineer by profession, and chairs the Pakistan Senate’s standing committee on environment. Saeeda Iqbal is secretary-general of the Pakistan People’s Party’s women’s wing in Islamabad, is a teacher and researcher. Anusha Rehman, is a first-time member of the lower house in Pakistan’s parliament from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Ayatullah Durrani has a doctorate in physics and was minister of state for industries and production from March 2008 to February 2011. There will be deliberations on a large number of issues, to facilitate a better understanding of relations between the two countries.

The Pakistan-India Parliamentarians’ Dialogue-I was facilitated by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) in Islamabad, on January 6-7, in which a seven-member Indian parliamentary delegation engaged with a multi-party group of Pakistani Mps. The topics included strengthening people to people contact, a liberal visa regime; terrorism; Jammu and Kashmir; water; the role of media; removing the trust deficit and other issues like role of women, trade, the role of military and intelligence agencies and continuation of dialogue and exchange programmes. “We believe Parliamentarians from India and Pakistan can play a key role in facilitating the dialogue process and conflict resolution on mutually acceptable and advantageous considerations,” said a Pildat representative.