Negative portrayals: Japanese MPs invited to see ‘real’ Pakistan

NA speaker extends invitation during event hosted by ambassador.

ISLAMABAD:

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq extended an invitation to Japanese parliamentarians to visit Pakistan and experience the country firsthand instead of being influenced by “negative” media reports about it.

Sadiq, who is also the president of the Pakistan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group, was speaking at a dinner hosted by the Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata at the ambassador’s residence on Tuesday night.

Japan has long supported Pakistan in development of underdeveloped areas and in relief work after natural disasters, Sadiq said, adding it is now time to have a “different kind of relationship” that can start with a Japanese parliamentary delegation visiting Pakistan.

“A relationship between the two parliaments is going to start now,” the NA speaker said. “I invite the speaker and members of Japan’s parliament so they can see the real Pakistan, not the negative portrayal in the media.”

The parliamentary friendship group, which only caters to the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament, includes 45 members of the National Assembly and was reconstituted in June 2013.

Ambassador Inomata said the Pakistan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group transcends local Pakistani politics to strive for a strong bilateral relationship.

“There are many differences in politics but here we stand united with a common objective: to build a deeper and expanding relationship between Japan and Pakistan,” the envoy said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2014.