Islamabad, August 20; Parliamentarians from the two houses of the parliament belonging to various parties underscored the importance of Parliamentary Friendship Groups in making positive contribution towards improving relations especially the neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan and India. Parliamentarians were speaking at the workshop organized by PILDAT on the Effectiveness of Parliamentary Friendship Groups of National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan with special emphasis on the Parliamentary Friendship Groups focusing on Afghanistan and India here in Islamabad today. Speakers at the Workshop who shared their views included Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, State Minister for Privatization, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan and Deputy Parliamentary Leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the National Assembly, Professor Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi, Renowned Security and Foreign Affairs Analyst and Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, President of PILDAT.

Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan, State Minister for Privatization said that the Friendship Groups in the National Assembly did not get appropriate attention during last term of the National Assembly of Pakistan due to lack of interest as well as lack of financial support. However, the current Speaker of the 14th National assembly is more enthusiastic and the groups will be likely more active, he added. He acknowledged the offer made by PILDAT to facilitate the meetings of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups on Afghanistan and India and hoped this would help in holding frequent meetings of the groups and contributing to foreign policy of the country.

Sharing his personal experience as a Member of the Pakistan-India Parliamentary Friendship Group of the 13th National Assembly of Pakistan he appreciated PILDAT initiative of Pakistan-India Parliamentarians Dialogue in 2011-2012. He said the Dialogues, which were organized by PILDAT as part of track II diplomacy between Pakistan and India successfully generated momentum for productive discussion on the issues which MPs, as representatives of the people, can only discuss the issues openly and candidly. Mr. Dastgir confirmed that Parliamentarians dialogues are necessary as, for sure, these Dialogues create intra-party and intra-parliament peace lobbies. He added that Parliamentarians Dialogues between Pakistan and India also open new avenues for exchange of views on a range of issues and sometime lead to out of the box thinking.

Speaking at the workshop Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Friendship Groups should be made functional as soon as possible and meetings of the groups should be held on regular basis. Mr. Qureshi said that issues of extremism between Pakistan and United Sates were positively addressed by the Friendship Groups during his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Friendship Groups in Pakistan are new and lack proper support and Funding. Beside, these groups are not promoted to the level which is required. He shared that Friendship Groups promote people to people contacts and tend to positively influence the relations with other countries.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi, Senior Analyst on Security and Foreign Affairs Issues said that Pakistan-India Parliamentary Friendship Groups may be a better opportunity to address all the issues which are not part of the government of composite Dialogue. He emphasized that the Parliamentarians should more closely study the documents and resolutions relating to various issues between Pakistan and India so that they are able to make an informed contribution to foreign policy discourse.

Senator Farhatullah Babar strongly urged the activation of Parliamentarians Friendship Groups in order to claim for the parliament the lost ground on foreign policy turf.

A large number of Parliamentarians participated in the Workshop from Major political parties. Parliamentarians who attended the workshop included Senator Farhatullah Babar ( PPPP, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Senator Saeeda Iqbal (PPPP, Islamabad), Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari (Independent, Punjab), Senator Heman Dass ( JUI-F, Balochistan), Dr. Raja Amer Zaman (MNA, NA-19, Haripur, PTI, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ms. Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak (MNA, Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mrs. Sajida Begum (MNA, Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Ms. Munaza Hassan(MNA, Women Reserved Seat, Punjab), Ms. Aaisha Gulalai (MNA, Women Reserved Seat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mr. Shehryar Afridi ( MNA, NA-14, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Engr. Ali Muhammad Khan, ( MNA, NA-10, Mardan-II, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari (MNA, NA-171, D.G.Khan-III, Punjab).