CHANDIGARH, 9 May 2003 — Thirteen Pakistani parliamentarians arrived in India yesterday to begin a path-breaking visit that they hope would help foster improved relations between the two countries.
The Pakistani politicians crossed the land border at Wagah after driving down from Lahore and then visited the Golden Temple at Amritsar before boarding a train for New Delhi.
“We have come on a peace mission and want immediate restoration of normal ties between the two countries. We have taken the first step and it will be good for the people of both the countries,” Syed Javed Ali Shah, an MP from Sindh, said.
The legislators were garlanded by local officials after crossing the Wagah border point, the only legal land crossing between the two countries, as well-wishers chanted slogans calling for friendship between the two neighboring countries.
Talking to reporters just before crossing into India, one of the Pakistani parliamentarians said she wanted to invite India’s army chief, Gen. N.C. Vij, to a polo tournament in Pakistan this year.
“We will stage a polo world cup this year and invite the Indian Army chief as a special guest,” Shirin Rehman said.
Another member of the delegation, Ishaq Khakwani, described the visit as a purely private one. “This is not an officially sponsored visit. It is purely private. We are paying for the expenses from our own pockets. We have no briefing from our foreign office,” he said.
The eight-day visit of the MPs is the first landmark event since India and Pakistan snapped air and train links following A December 2001 attack on Parliament that New Delhi blamed on militant groups supported by Islamabad.
After crossing the border, the delegation visited the Golden Temple, where they were accorded a public reception, and the nearby ground of Jallianwala Bagh, the site of a 1919 carnage by British troops.
Today the delegation is expected to meet the speaker of India’s parliament Manohar Joshi and two parliamentary delegations in New Delhi.
The Pakistani MPs will meet a group of Indian MPs at the residence of Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Somnath Chatterjee. Later, they will meet Congress party leaders. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer, a former Indian diplomat who served in Pakistan, has arranged the meeting.
Tomorrow, the delegation hopes to meet intellectuals and think tanks before interacting with the public. On Sunday the Pakistani MPs will visit Ajmer and the next day the Taj Mahal in Agra where they will be guided by Samajwadi party leader and local MP Raj Babbar.
The delegation will have discussions with former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral before leaving for Bombay and Calcutta, where they will meet the chief ministers of Maharashtra and West Bengal. They will return home on May 16.
On May 15, they will attend a dinner hosted by the Pakistan High Commission. “It is a goodwill gesture. Their aim is to find ways of establishing better and healthier relationship between the two countries,” said Vijayan M.J., the New Delhi convener of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy.
