Efforts are under way to restart the India-Pakistan Forum of Parliamentarians (IPFP) with an aim to reach out to democratic elements in Pakistan and get lawmakers of the two nuclear-armed neighbours to promote peace and stability in the region.
The forum, a brainchild of noted Gandhian the late Nirmala Deshpande, has remained a non-starter. But now it could well become the bridge that could help both the sides to understand each other better and create conditions to restart the process of reconciliation.
The move got a boost at a recent meeting of the Commonwealth Speakers’ Conference in Delhi, when Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar met the speaker of Pakistan’s national assembly, Fehmida Mirza.
Mirza, the first woman speaker of an Islamic country, was all praise for her Indian counterpart’s suggestion for a forum for women MPs of Commonwealth countries was welcome.
At a dinner hosted in her honour by Pakistan high commissioner Shahid Malik on Wednesday, she spoke passionately for revival of peace talks and said the two countries had to concentrate on removing poverty and illiteracy and giving a decent life to the millions struggling to make ends meet.
Mirza repeated what Pakistan’s civilian leadership has been saying all along, that keeping talks on hold would be playing into the hands of jihadis and terrorists.
Since 26/11, the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan has remained a non-starter. The outrage that followed the joint statement by prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-el Sheikh has dampened India’s enthusiasm to revive talks. Pressure from the US and the international community to start talking has been mounting, but Delhi, fearing public reaction, has remained cold.
Now, 14 months later, there is a move to get IPFP working again. But senior officials in the ministry of external affairs remained noncommittal, though FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), which organises these forums, appeared committed to the revival of IPFP. “We will push as hard as possible and hope to get something going by the middle of the year,” a member said.
Delhi is adamant that the peace process cannot move ahead until Islamabad does its bit to bring those responsible for 26/11 to book. The lack of enthusiasm among MPs was apparent as few bothered to attend the dinner. But, the rest of the world is tired with this refusal.
“We understand the government’s initial resistance, but problems cannot be solved by not talking. After all, Pakistan is also under terrorist attacks,” a western diplomat said.
