TEHRAN, Jan 7: The leader of Pakistani Senate’s delegation to Iran, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Sunday that Pakistan and Iran should work together to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region as well.
He was addressing a group of academics, researchers and diplomats at the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), the premier think-tank of Tehran affiliated with Iran's foreign ministry. He said three decisions had already been made in the course of the delegation’s visit which included the initiative to organise an annual bilateral parliamentary dialogue, an invitation to former Iranian president Dr Khatami to address the international conference to be held in Lahore, and the invitation to Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Dr Haddad Adel, to visit Pakistan.
The bilateral parliamentary dialogue could become a tri-partite one, he said, if the Afghan Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee also joins in for which they would be invited.
Talking about the impediments to pipeline deal, in response to a question, he said, the Iranian bureaucratic red tape was responsible for this which needs to be slashed speedily by the political leadership.
Mushahid said that Pakistan supported Iran's right to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme in accordance with the IAEA's safeguards and it was quite clear that this issue could not be resolved through the threat of force or imposition of sanctions.—APP
