Pakistan on Monday expressed concern over the progress on the probe into the Samjhauta Express incident when National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza a met Smt Meira Kumar, speaker of the Indian Lok Sabha, in Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi. According to a press release issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, both speakers discussed issues of mutual interest.
Referring to the Mumbai incident, Fehmida stressed that Pakistan too had its concerns on Samjhauhta Express incident. However, she said frequent parliamentary interactions would be helpful in addressing various issues between the two countries.
She stressed the need for enhanced parliamentary interaction between Pakistan and India for building bridges of understanding and friendship between the two countries.
Referring to the ongoing dialogue process, Fehmida said the recently held secretary-level meetings had yielded encouraging results. She said dialogue was the only way forward in improving bilateral ties
Fehmida emphasized that terrorism and violence was a common threat to all, however, Pakistan had suffered the most as more than 30,000 of its civilians and 5,000 personnel of law enforcement agencies had lost their lives to terrorism.
The NA speaker informed her Indian counterpart that Pakistan had agreed to grant India the Most Favoured Nation status, hoping that both countries would share their experiences in various fields to meet various challenges.
She also extended an invitation to Smt Meira Kumar to attend the 7th Women Speakers’ Conference to be held in Pakistan from 15-17 November.
Welcoming Fehmida, Meira Kumar said the relationship between Pakistan and India was not confined to politics and trade alone, rather, these were also based on emotional and cultural grounds.
She said India had also formed India-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group following Pakistan’s pattern and was confident that interaction between parliamentarians of both the countries would yield positive results.
Later, the NA speaker also held separate meetings with Speakers of other SAARC countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
During these meetings, the leaders exchanged views on issue of mutual interests, particularly in the context of SAARC Speaker and Parliamentary forum for strengthening ties amongst parliaments of SAARC countries.