The Prime Minister appreciated the contribution of the members of the civil society of both sides towards promoting the ideas of peace, friendship and development in the region particularly between India and Pakistan and said that he wanted to benefit from the wisdom of the civil society and peace activists in pursuing cordial neighbourly ties with India.
The Prime Minister stated that the first priority of his government was the development and well-being of the people of Pakistan for which peace and stability in the country were critical. Pakistan hence wishes to have friendly, co-operative and good neighbourly relations with India and he had personally invested into peace process given his ancestral and family's long-standing historical contributions in joint India war of liberation and India-Pakistan friendship, he added.
The Prime Minister recalled his meetings with his Indian counterpart in Sharm El Sheikh in 2009 and in Thimphu in April last year and stated that he fully believed in the sincerity of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for resolution of all the disputes between the two countries through the peace process.
He urged the politicians as well as media of both sides for their positive role in taking the peace process forward. The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction on the resumption of dialogue between the two countries by noting that Interior Secretaries of the two countries will meet in New Delhi next week to take up terrorism, drug trafficking and humanitarian issues.
He stated that the Commerce Secretary of India would be visiting Islamabad towards the end of April whereas other segments of strategic dialogue were being scheduled to pave the way for the meeting of the two Foreign Secretaries followed by Foreign Minister of Pakistan's visit to New Delhi in July.
The Prime Minister emphasised the need for increased people to people contacts, exchange of Parliamentary delegations and uninterrupted dialogue process to focus on the contentious issues and on promotion of trade, economic, intelligence sharing, sports and cultural co-operation. He assured the Indian Peace delegation that Pakistan will project the forthcoming talks in a constructive manner and it was his earnest hope that the talks would serve to reduce the trust deficit and create a solid foundation for taking the process forward.
The Indian Peace delegation agreed with the Prime Minister that the misperceptions on both the sides need to be addressed through increased people to people contacts and Parliamentary exchanges. The members of the Indian Peace delegation also proposed co-operation between the Universities, exchange of artists, journalists, sports teams and members of civil society on regular basis to create conducive ground for both governments to pursue the peace process. They assured the Prime Minister that in their capacity as members of the civil society, they will continue to strive for bringing the people as well as governments of the two sides ever closer.
The other members of the Indian peace delegation were Mahesh Bhatt, Vrinda Grover, Jatin Desai, Mazhar Hussain, Ramesh Yadev, Shahid Siddiqui, Haris Kidwai, Bharai Modi, Kangkal Shanith Kumar and Nikhil Kumar. Members of the civil society who attended the meeting were Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri Executive Director Sustainable Development, Naseer Memon CEO Strengthening Participatory Organisation, Naseem Mirza CEO Aurat Foundation, Faisal Gorchani Head of Policy Advocacy and Outreach Sustainable Development Policy Institute and Zeenia Shaukat Programme Manager Strengthening Participatory Organisation.