July 24, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 23: The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is trying to minimize international conflicts and maximize cooperation and interaction between the nations by bringing closer their parliaments.

This was stated by the IPU secretary-general, Anders B. Johnson, while talking to a group of parliamentarians here on Wednesday.

The IPU secretary-general said the strategy being adopted for this purpose was to provide a platform to the nations in conflicts for holding bilateral talks through their parliamentarians. Issues like peace, socio-economic and cultural cooperation, disarmament, environment, human rights and democracy are on the agenda of the IPU, he added.

The members of Pakistan parliament asked Mr Johnson to exercise influence on other international organizations like the Common Wealth Parliamentary Association to see the ground realities and acknowledge the revival of democracy in Pakistan.

They also presented their proposals regarding improving inter-parliamentary interaction and expansion of the IPU role.

Those who attended the meeting included: National Assembly secretary, Mehmood Salim; Senator Mohammad Ali Durrani, federal minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Dr Ghazi Gulab Jamal, Malik Amin Aslam, Sumaira Malik, Ejazul Haq, Zahid Hamid, Dr Aamir Liaquat Ali and Dr Sher Afghan Khan Niazi.

Later, Mr Johnson held a meeting with the officials of the National Assembly secretariat and discussed with them various aspects of mutual technical cooperation.

Meanwhile, an eight-member delegation of the PPP on Wednesday met the IPU secretary-general, Anders B. Johnson, and apprised him of how the military was trying to undermine parliamentary sovereignty.

The PPP delegation comprised of Yousuf Raza Gillani, Jehangir Bader, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Farooq Naik, Senator Enver Baig, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Farzana Raja and Matloob Warraich.

During the meeting, Mr Gillani lauded the role of the IPU in ensuring parliamentary sovereignty in the member countries.

The delegation informed the IPU secretary-general about several issues impinging on democracy and parliamentary sovereignty and urged him to use the influence of the union to prevent derailment of democratic system in Pakistan. The issues brought to the notice of the IPU secretary-general included amendments to the Constitution and one-sided and politically-motivated accountability.

The PPP team explained to Mr Johnson how the general elections were manipulated and how Gen Pervez Musharraf had declared himself the president while still holding the office of army chief.