Indian peace delegation in Pak seeks normalisation of ties

Lahore, Feb 24 (PTI) Seeking normalisation of Indo-Pak
ties in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, members of an Indian
peace delegation in Pakistan Tuesday asked people of the two
countries to join hands to fight terror and promote business
and trade relations.

Indians were in an angry mood after the Mumbai attacks.
However, large sections of civil society in India are still in
favour of peaceful co-existence with Pakistan, eminent
journalist Kuldip Nayar, who is leading the 13-member
delegation, said during an address at the Lahore Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

He urged the people of India and Pakistan to join hands
to fight terrorism and to promote business and trade.

"It is not the question of one country – the whole region
is suffering due to terrorism," Nayar said. Without the
participation of trade and industry, peace cannot be secured
for the people in this part of the world, he added.

Businessmen will have to come into the mainstream of the
peace movement in the larger interest of the region, Nayar
said. "We are peacemakers and will overcome all difficulties
coming in our way soon," he said.

Spiritual leader Swami Agnivesh, another member of the
delegation that comprises peace and rights activists and
journalists, asked people to come forward and play their role
for ending poverty in the region. The civil society alone
could do the needful in this regard, he said.

The Indian peace delegation is in Pakistan to help defuse
tensions generated by the Mumbai attacks. A Pakistani team of
peace activists had recently visited India.

LCCI president Mian Muzaffar Ali, speaking on the
occasion, said relations between the two countries had
deteriorated to a deadlock following the Mumbai attacks. The
business community had condemned the attacks as a "most wicked
crime against innocent people" and shares the grief of the
people of India, he said.

The perpetrators of the attacks wanted to spark a
conflict between India and Pakistan and to prevent Pakistan
from achieving peace in its northwestern regions, Ali said.

The business community is committed to a "serious,
sustainable and constructive engagement with India" and
desires an early and full normalisation of relations on the
basis of mutual non-interference, peaceful coexistence and
respect for each other, he said.

This would also help boost trade relations, which had
increased in recent years with the balance of trade in favour
of India, he said. India's official bilateral trade with
Pakistan is estimated to be worth 2 billion dollars though
unofficial trade via third countries is many times higher.

Other officials of LCCI said the businessmen of the two
countries are interested to gain from opportunities for trade
but the unfriendly visa policies of India and Pakistan are
hampering visits to explore markets and negotiate deals. PTI
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