ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: A two-day conference of parliamentarians, mediapersons, opinion makers and defence experts from India and Pakistan will be held in the federal capital from Aug 10.
The conference has jointly been organized by the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) of Pakistan and India chapters with the sponsorship of Norwegian agency, NORAD, says a statement read by the office-bearers of the Safma at a press conference here on Sunday.
The conference will seek to develop understanding, promote confidence building and help explore solutions to the conflicts in the South Asian sub-continent, including Kashmir.
National Assembly Speaker Chaudhary Amir Hussain will address the inaugural session and the concluding session will be addressed by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri.
President Pervez Musharraf has agreed to meet the delegates over a cup of tea.
The Indian delegates will visit the parliament house where they will be awarded shields.
Indian High Commissioner-designate to Pakistan, Shivshankar Menon will host a reception for the delegates.
The conference will be the largest interaction among the public representatives and opinion makers from across the political divides in the subcontinent on the issues of Pakistan-India relations.
The leaders of almost all leading parties in India and Pakistan have accepted the invitation and have nominated delegations from their respective parties for representation in the conference.
The organizers are expecting 30 Indian parliamentarians, whereas 45 parliamentarians from Pakistan have confirmed their participation.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Smajwadi Party of Mullayam Singh Yadav, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), CPI, Telegu Desham Party (TDP), Rashtriya Janata Dal of Laloo Prasad Yadav, DMK, AIDMK, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Lok Janshakti of Paswan, Shrimony Akali Dal, Janata Dal United, Haryana Vikas Party, Revolutionary Socialist Party and others from India have confirmed their participation.
A three-member delegation from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will also attend the moot.
From Pakistan side the PML(Q), PPP (Parliamentarians), MMA, PML(N), ANP, MQM, BNP, JWP, BNM have already expressed their willingness to attend the event.
Prominent leaders from India who are likely to attend the conference are S.S. Ahluwalia, Vijendra Pal Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shyama Charan Shukla, Rahman Khan, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ram Jethmalani, Laloo Prasad Yadev, Naval Kishore Raj, Krishnamurthy, Bhan Singh Bhaura, P.A. Sangma, Talib Hussain.
Journalist Kuldip Nayar, Dilip Padgaonkar, editor of the Times of India; M.J. Akbar, editor Asian Age; Nihal Singh, Comi Kapoor, resident editor Indian Express; Vinod Dua of Sahara TV; Sayed Sayidain Naqvi; Rajdeep Sardesai editor NDTV; Prem Shankar Jha as well as Katyal consulting editor of The Hindu; Lt-Gen Vijay Oberoi; Abid Hussein; Lt-Gen Satish Nambiar; Dr Krishna Agarwal, Madan Govardhan Das Debi, and Muzaffar Hussain are also participating the conference.
Nusrat Javed who is the coordinating officer of the conference said, “our purpose is not track-II diplomacy, we only want easy access of journalists as well as their products within Pakistan and India, as well as in other Saarc countries.”
Current Safma President Riazuddin Ahmad, editor of News Today from Dhaka is also expected to participate at the conference.
Meanwhile the PML-Q has announced the names of their delegates to the conference.
Those named on behalf of the PML-Q are Waseem Sajjad, leader of the house in the Senate; Naseer Ahmed Khan, federal health minister; Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Mohammad Yousaf, senators Dilawar Abbas, Tariq Azeem, MNAs Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari, Ishaq Khakwani and Kashmala Tariq.
The organisers believe that the wide representation of MPs from the two countries will in fact make it a joint parliamentary forum.
Besides the parliamentarians, 22 editors and experts from India and 40 leading journalists and experts from Pakistan will also attend the conference to facilitate a dialogue among the elected representatives of the people.
To express their solidarity with the Indian elected representatives, all the four major parties of the country will host receptions for the delegates of the conference.
PML (Q) President Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain, Chief Minister of NWFP Akram Durrani on behalf of MMA, PPP-P President Makhdoom Amin Fahim and PML-N President Javed Hashmi will host lunch and dinner receptions in Islamabad.
Human Rights activist Asma Jahangir will also host a farewell lunch for the guests in Lahore.—Junaid Iqbal