LAHORE, Sept 27: A 25-member delegation of lawyers headed by Punjab Bar Council vice-chairman Muhammad Arif Chaudhry will leave for India via Wagah on Sunday to attend the International Legal Conference.

The conference is being held at Chandigarh from Sept 29 to Oct 1 under the auspices of Chandigarh High Court Bar Association, whose president, Anmol Sindhu, has extended an invitation to the PBC. The conference would be inaugurated by Indian President Abul Kalam.

The delegation also comprises Punjab Advocate General Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, MPA Raja Shafqat Abbasi, Lahore Bar Association president Mansoorur Rehman Khan Afridi, former PBC vice-chairman Muhammad Ramzan Chaudhry and other members of the PBC. However, no office-bearer of the Lahore High Court Bar Association has been included in the delegation.

LHCBA president Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari told Dawn that the PBC had not contacted him or other LHC Bar office-bearers regarding the Indian tour nor had he taken a keen interest in the visit. “Those who had pursued the matter got their names included in the delegation,” he added.

Earlier, PBC vice-chairman Arif Chaudhry told a news conference that the delegation to India should be taken as an encouraging initiative towards promoting friendship between the two neighbours. “Being ambassadors of Pakistan, we would defend our country’s honour and dignity and would not issue any statement regarding the contentious issues. We want to deliver a massage of love and tolerance instead of fuelling hatred and bitterness.”

The delegation would return on Oct 3.