KARACHI, Sept 19: Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah has said that the matter of issuance of British visas from the UK Consulate at Karachi has been taken up with the British parliamentary delegation, which came to attend the 50th conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held in Toronto, Canada.
The CPA provides a forum for interaction between various Commonwealth countries, both at the state and national levels. Mr Shah, who returned the other day after attending the CPA moot in Canada along with a 10-member Pakistani parliamentary delegation, talking to a group of journalists in his chamber at the assembly, said besides exchange of views on Kashmir, they also took up the issue of Basmati rice quota, training facilities for local teachers in the British institutions under the Commonwealth programme and harassment of Pakistanis at British airports, with the UK delegation.
Mr Dennis Marshal, who led the UK delegation in the CPA moot, promised to take up the matters, including the issuance of British visas at the Karachi Consulate, with the British government, Mr Shah added.
The speaker said they also discussed matters pertaining to the promotion of bilateral relations and parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. Mr Shah said that they also called on the president of the CPA and the speaker of the House of commons of Canada, Mr Peter Milliken, and discussed with them matters of mutual interest.
"Our delegation apprised the Canadian speaker about major issues of Pakistan and found him quite supportive. The both sides exchanged views on the possibility of expansion of bilateral ties in various fields, and agreed to boost exchange of visits of various delegations with a view to promote interaction at all levels between the parliamentarians of the two countries," the speaker said.
The delegation also met with Commonwealth Secretary General Don Macinnon, and exchanged views on important matters, including the recent talks on Kashmir between Pakistan and India.
He said that during the various workshops held as part of the moot, the issues of gender inequality, racism, working conditions, eradication of corruption and various other social problems were discussed.
In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that it was decided that the next CPA conference would be held in 2005 in Fiji Islands to be followed by a moot in Lagos in Nijeria in 2006.
He said that India, which had 26 parliamentary institutions comprising 24 states, Rajia Sabha and Lok Sabha, had been excluded from Asia by declaring it a separate region. Now Asia region comprises Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh, with its regional secretariat at Islamabad.
Mr Shah said that the Pakistani delegation comprised Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro, National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, speakers of all four provincial assemblies, Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari, Begum Gohar Ayub, Baz Khan and secretary-general of the National Assembly Secretariat.
He said that another parliamentary delegation from Pakistan would be leaving for the US on a week-long study tour on Sept 22. The members of the delegation from Sindh Assembly would include its speaker, leader of the opposition, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, and Faisal Sabzwari from the treasury benches.
