NEW DELHI, April 1: Visit of PML president and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to India has injected new impetus into the ongoing confidence-building process between the two countries for resolving long-standing problems, including the Kashmir dispute. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had taken an important initiative to promote party-to-party contact between Pakistan and India, which would substantially help in furthering the peace process, PML Secretary-General Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed told APP at the conclusion of the five-day visit to India.

The PML chief, who had led an eleven-member parliamentary delegation, held meetings with President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP president L K Advani, and Union Ministers Lalu Prasad Yadev and Mani Shankar Aiyer.

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain also had had threadbare sessions with Indian think-tanks, writers, scholars, media persons and analysts. The PML secretary-general said the leader of the delegation urged the top leadership of India to set aside conventional mindset and seize the opportunity to resolve bilateral issues.

He said the president of the ruling party conveyed a clear message to India that ‘bold and unpopular’ decisions were indispensable for finding a solution to the problems. The people were the stakeholders in the peace process on both sides which, he observed, would impart further resilience to the efforts for normalization of Pakistan-India relations.

Warm receptions and high protocol accorded to the parliamentary delegation headed by Shujaat Hussain was reflective of further improvement of the atmosphere between the two sides, Mushahid Hussain said.

The PML secretary-general said the party president had stressed during the meetings that bold political measures were direly needed to settle the differences.

Responding to a question, Senator Mushahid Hussain described the Indian response to the visit as positive. The party chief found sincerity and seriousness among Indian leaders for taking the dialogue process forward.

The PML secretary-general billed the visit of ruling party president as a milestone in consolidating Pakistan-India ties and fostering party-to-party contacts and exchanges.

Earlier, addressing a big gathering at the historic Jamia Masjid of Delhi, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that he had brought a message of goodwill and prosperity for them.

Highlighting significance of the peace process between Pakistan and India, he exhorted them to play their role in realizing the objectives of development and well-being.

The confidence-building process, he said, would help bring peoples of the two countries closer and deliver them dividends. The citizens of both the countries should continue to play their role in the political and economic development of their respective countries, said Chaudhry Shujaat.-—APP