MPs to leave for Pak on Tuesday

A 15-member delegation of Indian parliamentarians will leave for Pakistan on Tuesday on a nine-day visit with the blessings of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The team will take the Shatabdi Express from Delhi to Amritsar and then cross the border through the Wagah checkpost.

Among several confidence building measures, including trade and cultural ties, the visiting lawmakers will discuss the issue of opening up of air space so that flights between India and Pakistan could resume.

Rajya Sabha MP and columnist Kuldip Nayyar, who is heading the delegation, met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and briefed him about the visit in a 45-minute meeting last week.

"I met the prime minister and explained the purpose of our visit. He is very happy, " Nayyar told rediff.com.

He also met External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday evening.

Other members of the team include Rajiv Shukla, Renuka Chaudhary, Abdul Rashid Shaheen and Shahid Siddiqui.

"It is a non-government initiative to enhance people-to-people contact. The idea is to break the ice. It would be a reciprocal visit after Pakistani parliamentarians came to our country (in May), " said Shukla.

"The focus will be on opening up of trade relations and cultural ties. We are happy that the Delhi-Lahore bus service is resuming (on July 1). Now we also want the air service to start soon. It will help in improving our relations. We will raise this issue in our meeting with the Pakistani prime minister."

Shukla said India had opened up its air space for Pakistani airplanes, but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate.

"We hope Pakistan will also open up its air space for us and also resume flights to India," he said.

The delegation is scheduled to visit Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, and will interact with business leaders, religious
groups, lawyers, academicians, rights activists and women's groups.

Apart of Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, the delegation will also meet the speaker of the parliament and the chief minister of the Punjab province.

However, a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf is unlikely as he will be away on an overseas trip to France, Germany, the UK and the US.