Indian parliament’s speaker arrives on five-day visit

Kumar, Mirza agree dialogue only way forward to address contentious issues.

ISLAMABAD: The speaker of India’s Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar, has arrived on a five-day state visit to Pakistan along with a parliamentary delegation comprising members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha (the upper house and lower house of parliament).

The speaker will also meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the Senate chairman during her visit. She will also travel to Lahore where she is scheduled to meet the governor, chief minister and speaker of the Punjab provincial assembly.

On Tuesday, the Indian delegation called on National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, who was accompanied by Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi and members of the Pak-India Friendship group.

In the meeting of the speakers of the Indian and Pakistani parliaments, it was decided that interaction between public representatives and legislators from India and Pakistan ought to be enhanced to remove misconceptions. Such a move would help “build bridges of understanding.”

Mirza said that granting the most favoured nation status to India would boost commercial activities between the two countries.

Kumar said she had brought with her a message of good-will, friendship, peace and prosperity for the people of Pakistan.

“The relationship between the two countries is not confined to politics and trade alone; rather it is based on emotional and cultural grounds,” she remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.