Indian judges to pay goodwill visit to Pak

In a bid to strengthen the Centre's initiative to normalise relations with Pakistan, a high-level delegation of serving and retired judges of the Supreme Court and various high courts will undertake a goodwill mission to that country later this month.

During its week-long visit starting June 19, the delegation will exchange views on laws on terrorism and other matters relating to the judicial system, Indian Council of Jurists convener Adish C Agarwal said in Delhi today.

Carrying the message of peace and harmony, the delegation will visit Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta, he said. It will also meet the president and prime minister of Pakistan, the chief justice of Pakistan's supreme court, and law ministers of Pakistan and Punjab province.

Prominent members of the delegation are Justice K G Balakrishnan of the Supreme Court, Justice (retd) G T Nanavati (now heading the commission of inquiry into the Gujarat riots), Justice Fakhruddin of the Chhattisgarh high court, Justice A P Misra (chairman of the legal education committee of the Bar Council of India), and Justice V S Malimath (chairman of the committee on reforming the criminal justice system).

In May, a delegation of Pakistani lawmakers had visited India at the invitation of the India-Pakistan Forum for Peace and Democracy as part of efforts to improve ties between the two South Asian neighbours.

Earlier, an 80-member Indian delegation was scheduled to visit Pakistan in May 1999. The trip was cancelled on the instructions of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when the Kargil conflict broke out.