Pakistani and Indian parliamentarians have agreed to recommend to their respective governments to pick all the inconclusive talks and subsequent decisions from the positions agreed upon by both the sides till 1999 and avoid reconsidering earlier decisions whenever the two sides hold talks in future on the issues such as Sir Creek, Siachen and water.
“We, the parliamentarians of both the countries, have decided to ask our respective governments to move forward from the point the two countries reached by 1999 on the contentious issues,” said Senator SM Zafar who co-chaired the recently-held second round of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians’ Dialogue in New Delhi.
Talking to Pakistan Today on Wednesday, he said during the meeting between the parliamentarians of both the countries, sovereignty of the two nations was fully recognised. The two sides also agreed that war was no solution to the controversial problems and they were to go for dialogue, SM Zafar added. He further said there was unanimity of views amongst the parliamentarians that process of dialogue must not be taken hostage by other factors and the dialogue must continue uninterrupted.
It is worth mentioning that a 20-member parliamentary delegation from Pakistan participated in the second round of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians’ Dialogue facilitated by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency on August 18-19 in New Delhi. The discussions included terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, sharing of water, role of the media, and evolving a mechanism to carry forward the parliamentary dialogue process.
