LAHORE, Oct 9: A six-member parliamentary delegation left for India through Wagah here on Thursday as part of mission to strengthen the peace movement and bring people of the two neighbouring countries closer to each other.

The parliamentarians are scheduled to attend a two-day conference on the role of technology in poverty alleviation, which they believe will be helpful in finding ways to progress and prosperity.

“It is high time that the two countries take all steps for bringing peace in this region to compete in the world,” delegation head Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad, an MNA from the PPP (Parliamentarians), told reporters.

The others in the delegation were PPP (Parliamentarians) MNAs Fauzia Wahab, Zulfiqar Ali and Qamar Zaman, PML-N MNA Maimoona Hashmi and PML-Q’s Senator Tariq Azeem Chaudhry.

Claiming that the delegation was visiting India unofficially, Chaudhry Manzoor said the parliamentarians, besides attending the moot in New Delhi, would spend some more days there on a private invitation of a Rajia Sabha member, Nirmal Desh Pandey.

“Poverty is the biggest challenge being faced on both sides of the divide,” he said. The visit, he added, was part of the people-to-people contact mission to promote peace and harmony between Pakistan and India.

“We are not carrying any official message for the Indian government,” he said, adding the delegates would meet the lawmakers and politicians, and people belonging to different vocations.

woman prisoner: An Indian woman prisoner will return to her country via Wagah border on Friday.

A handout issued here on Thursday said Ms Zakia would be handed over to the Indian authorities by Pakistan Rangers on the directions of the prime minister.

It did not mention for how long she had been in Pakistani jail and on what charges.