PESHAWAR, July 19: Former chairman of Indian Bar Council D. V. Subba Rao said on Monday that Pakistan and India should fight against poverty and ignorance by taking measures to promote friendly relations. Speaking at a reception held at the Peshawar High Court Bar Room, Mr Rao, who is heading a 12-member delegation of senior lawyers, said that both countries should give up the path of confrontation and instead concentrate on measures aimed at bolstering friendly ties with focus on overcoming the chronic issues of poverty and ignorance.

He said the lawyer fraternity on both sides of the border was unanimous in their pledge to promote peace and harmony.

He said misunderstandings should be removed and the state of confrontation should be ended.

He said the peace process initiated by Pakistan and India should continue as the people build nations and not politicians.

Other members of the delegation Suraj Narain Prasad Sinha, D. K. Sharma, V.K. Bhardvaj, Jagbir Singh Dalal, Faisal Rizvi and Jagdev also spoke.

Mr Sharma in his address argued that in 1947 boundaries were partitioned and not hearts. “We don’t feel that we are in an alien country as we have been received with love and affection everywhere we went”.

“The hospitality extended by the people of Peshawar is matchless,” Mr Jagdev remarked. Most of the lawyers are visiting Pakistan for the first time and almost all of them never visited Peshawar before.

Earlier, senior members of the Peshawar High Court Bar Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Abdul Latif Afridi, Barrister Masood Kausar, Abdul Qadir Khattak, Mian Fazle Wahab and others Spoke on the occasion and urged for promoting peace by eschewing the bitter past. They are on a visit at the invitation of the Pakistan Bar Council.—APP