LAHORE, Aug 9: The leader of the visiting Indian parliamentarians delegation, former chief minister of Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav, has said peace is a prerequisite for the progress and prosperity of India and Pakistan.

He was speaking at a reception hosted in honour of the delegation by the Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights during its brief stay in the city before leaving for Islamabad for attending a two-day conference hosted by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA).

Mr Yadav said both the neighbouring states should realize the need for peace and harmony in the region to forestall the possibility of foreign intervention.

He said the delegation was not official but comprised parliamentarians belonging to different political parties who had come to Pakistan with a message of goodwill from the Indian people. The delegation was here to end hatred between the two countries, he added.

Mr Yadav said free movement of people was necessary for normalizing relations. He was all praise for SAFMA for taking the initiative by inviting the Indian parliamentarians and the Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights for hosting a reception in their honour.

Communist Party leader Mani Shankar said the parliamentarians of the two countries had the power to open the door locked by the leaders. The Indian delegation was here for creating conducive environment to unlock the door lying closed for the past 55 years.

He said the Indians were here for understanding the reasons behind the strained relations between the two countries. Development of understanding and friendship between the people of the two countries was necessary to overcome the hatred bred by the vested interests.

He said he was born in Lakshmi Mansion here and had served as Indian Counsel General in Karachi.

Bharatia Janta Party leader Balbir Tej said the people in India and Pakistan were living in similar conditions. Power supply in India was suspended when they crossed over the border and found it suspended in Pakistan as well. Customs authorities on both sides took an hour and a half in checking their documents which could have been easily completed in 15 minutes.

He said there was poverty and illiteracy in both the states. People were living in abject poverty because all the resources had been used only for nurturing hatred and amassing weapons during the past 55 years.

He said India and Pakistan should learn a lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan and normalize relations to eliminate chances of foreign intervention. The governments of the two countries should become friends because hatred had given their people nothing but suffering and poverty.

CPM leader Sarla Maheshwari said the people of both the countries had a common heritage but a wall was erected between their hearts and minds. They had to open a window in the wall to understand each others feelings.

Samaj Wadi Party leader Salim Sherwani lamented that families divided by partition could not meet each other due to various reasons.

He said he had come to Pakistan with a message of friendship. He expressed the hope that the Indian delegation could demolish the wall between the people of both the countries.

Lok Janta leader Ram Bilas Pashwas said if Germany and Korea could come together, why not India and Pakistan could sink their differences.

He advised both the governments not to give any foreign power a chance to intervene in the region in the name of resolving their disputes. The people wanted to meet each other but vested interests wanted to keep them apart, he added.

He said the Indian delegation did not claim to demolish the wall between the people of the two countries but they would definitely open a window in the wall.

Talib Husain said the leaders of both the countries should take a cue from the unification of Germany and formation of European Union and try to resolve their differences through a purposeful dialogue. Disputes could be settled only through a dialogue and not by the bullet, he added.

Samaj Wadi Party leader Ramji Sohan said both the countries should try to normalize relations because war could give their people nothing but misery and destruction.

Akali Dal leader Jora Singh said the Punjab had suffered the most during the wars in 1965 and 1971. It was the Punjab which needed peace the most.

He said he had come to Pakistan as a Punjabi who wanted to meet his brothers here.

Human rights activist Hina Jilani said the governments of India and Pakistan should understand that their people wanted an end to hostilities and starting a process for normalization of bilateral relations.