Indian MPs to attend SAARC parliamentarians meet in Islamabad
Undeterred over the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, a three member Parliamentary delegation reached Islamabad on Tuesday to participate in the first SAARC Young Parliamentarians Conference (YPC) on ‘Peace and Harmony for Development’.
The two-day conference, which commenced this morning, is aimed at offering ‘young parliamentarians’ narrative’ in the run up to the 19th SAARC Summit that Pakistan is scheduled to host sometime in November.
Led by Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, BJD Lok Sabha, the other two members in the delegation are Alok Tiwari of Samajvadi Party in the Rajya Sabha and another Lok Sabha MP Devisingh Patel.
50 Members of Parliament from Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are taking part in the conference.
The Conference is an initiative by Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq with the aim to offer region’s young parliamentarians’ narrative as a prelude to the 19th SAARC Summit. They are to deliberate on the theme of regional peace and harmony.
With sub-themes such as peace and development, human rights, sustainable development, regional trade, cultural diplomacy, youth issues and social inclusion, the conference is to conclude on Wednesday with an Islamabad Declaration.
Significantly, the next big item on the SAARC agenda for the year is SAARC Finance Ministers’ Conference to be held at Islamabad on August 25-26. It is not known as yet whether the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would travel to Pakistan for the meet. Doubts have been raised after the recent unpleasant situation that arose when the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Pakistan to attend the SAARC Home/Interior Ministers conference.
A report on the Pakistan state run news agency-Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said that Pakistan Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday chaired a meeting here to review the arrangements for the upcoming SAARC Finance Ministers conference.
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