Delhi, August 18; Round II of India-Pakistan Parliamentary Dialogue began here in Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi today. A 19 member Pakistan Parliamentary delegation interacted with their Indian counterparts in a comprehensive review of relations between the two countries and discussed means of moving forward. In order to do so, they discussed various issues, including strengthening of people to people contact and need for a liberal visa regime. Other issues that were also deliberated upon during Day 1 of the Round �II of Dialogue included terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir, water, role of media, removal of the trust deficit and developing a future mechanism to carry forward Parliamentary Dialogue Process.

In the two sessions during the day, spread over several hours, Parliamentarians also made specific proposals. These will be discussed tomorrow, August 19 also. This will help the Parliamentarians evolve a follow-up action plan. These will then be forwarded to the Governments in the two countries as policy inputs for improving relations between the two countries.

Pakistan delegation is co-lead by Senator Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali, Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan, and Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi, MNA, Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, while seasoned MPs from Pakistan and India, Senator S. M. Zafar (Punjab, PML), former Federal Minister for Law, Pakistan and Mr. Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister for External Affairs and Finance, India (Jharkhand, BJP) co-chaired of the 1st day of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians Dialogue - II.

Indian Parliamentarians who joined the interaction with their Pakistan counterparts included Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Member Lok Sabha, BJP, Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member, Rajya Sabha, Indian National Congress (INC), Mr. Mohammed Adeeb, Member, Rajya Sabha, (Ind.), Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Naresh Gujral, Member, Rajya Sabha, Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab, Mr. Rajniti Prasad, Member Rajya Sabha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bihar, Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz, Member, Rajya Sabha, Indian National Congress, Jammu & Kashmir, Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi, Member Lok Sabha, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh, Mr. Baijayant Jay Panda, Member Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal, Kendrapara, Orissa, Mr. Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Member Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bolangir, Orissa, Mr. Naveen Jindal, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Kurukshetra, Haryana, Mr. Raashid Alvi, Member Rajya Sabha, INC, Andhra Pradesh, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Syed Azeez Pasha, Member Rajya Sabha, Communist Party of India, Hyderabad, Mr. Tathagata Satpathy, Member Lok Sabha, Biju Janata Dal, Orissa and Mr. Vijay Bahuguna, Member Lok Sabha, INC, Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand.

The Pakistan delegation, other than the Deputy Presiding Officers of the Parliament of Pakistan, includes Honourable Senator Afrasiab Khattak (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, ANP), Honourable Senator Jehangir Bader (Punjab, PPPP), Honourable Senator Saeeda Iqbal (ICT, PPPP) and Honourable Senator S.M. Zafar. Members from the National Assembly of Pakistan include Honourable Ms. Anusha Rehman, (Punjab, PML-N), Honourable Dr. Ayatullah Durrani, (Balochistan, PPPP), Honourable Mr. Haider Abbas Rizvi, (Sindh, MQM) , Honourable Mr. Humayun Saifullah Khan, (KP, PML),Honourable Mr. Laiq Muhammad Khan, (KP JUI-F), Honourable Dr. Lal Chand, (Sindh, PPP). Honourable Mr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, (Punjab, PML-N), Honourable Mr. Nadeem Afzal Gondal, (Punjab, PPPP), Honourable Dr. Nafisa Shah, (Sindh, PPPP), Honourable Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, (Punjab, PPPP), Honourable Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira, (Punjab, PPPP), Honourable Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, (Punjab, PML) and Honourable Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, (Punjab, PML-N). Mr. Iftikhar Ullah Babar, Special Secretary, Senate of Pakistan and Mr. Moosa Raza Effendi, Additional Secretary, Public Accounts Committee, National Assembly of Pakistan participate as observers in the Dialogue representing the Parliamentary Secretariats while Ambassador (Retd.) Khalid Mahmood, former Director General, Foreign Minister of Pakistan�s Office, serves as Rapporteur to the Dialogue. The PILDAT team is led by Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director and includes Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director, Mr. Hmmal Dostain and Ms. Wajiha Kanwal, Projects Managers of PILDAT.

The Pakistan-India Parliamentarians� Dialogue � I was facilitated by PILDAT in Islamabad, Pakistan on January 06-07, 2011 in which a 7-member Indian Parliamentary delegation engaged with multi-party group of Pakistani MPs on topics including strengthening people to people contact, a liberal visa regime; terrorism; Jammu and Kashmir; Water; Role of Media; removing the trust deficit and other issues like role of women, trade, role of Military and Intelligence Agencies and continuation of Dialogue and exchange programmes.