Islamabad, January 18; Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani received Indian Parliamentary Delegation upon the conclusion of the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians Dialogue-III today. He thanked PILDAT for facilitating the Dialogue and said the dialogue is fully supported by the Government of Pakistan. Warmly welcoming the delegation, Prime Minister Gilani said that the dialogue will help improve the atmosphere in which Pakistan-India relations are progressing forward. �It is my most-cherished dream to see Pakistan and India moving forward on improved relations,� he said and urged MPs from both sides to play a constructive role in reducing the trust-deficit and improve relations. Mr. Gilani said he had visited India many times and deeply cherished his ties with friends and counterparts in India. He also said that the Prime Minister of India also wishes to visit Pakistan and that he looks forward to receiving him.

Parliamentarians from both sides issued a Joint Statement upon the conclusion of Pakistan-India Parliamentarians Dialogue-III which was presented to the Prime Minister by the Dialogue Co-Chairs 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). Copies of the Joint Statement were also presented to the Federal Minister for Commerce, Makhdoom Ameen Faheem, MNA and Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, MNA, both of whom were in attendance during the meeting at the Prime Minister House.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director of PILDAT, thanked the Prime Minister for his Government�s support, as well as the continuing support of the two houses of Parliament of Pakistan for making the Dialogue successful.

Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar and Mr. Yashwant Sinha, speaking at the ceremony at the Prime Minister House, reiterated the views of the MPs of both sides in expressing satisfaction at the pace and maturity of the Parliamentary Dialogue. Both MPs recognised and appreciated the initiative of PILDAT, on behalf of the Indian delegation, to foster these dialogues and urged that this initiative deserved to be continued and reinforced.

Earlier during the day, upon conclusion of the two-day Dialogue, Mr. Yashwant Sinha said that history will not forgive us if we remain confined to the past. Let us move forward on improving Pak-India relations, he urged.

�Let us not mortgage our present and future for the past,� said Senator S. M. Zafar, Dialogue Co-Chair from Pakistan. The Parliamentarians of two countries must continue the Dialogue in this regard while the Dialogue to improve relations should be uninterrupted and uninterruptible, he said.

Senator Jan. Muhammad Jamali, Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan, Mr. Faisal Karim Kundi, MNA, Deputy Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan, Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira, MNA, convener, Pak-India Parliamentary Friendship Group in the National Assembly and Senator Salim Saifullah Khan, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, addressed the Dialogue and the interaction with the media.

The Indian delegation comprised MPs representing major political parties of India from both houses of the Indian Parliament. Indian MPs from the Rajya Sabha included Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Indian National Congress (INC); Mr. Nand Kishore Singh (Janata Dal (United), Bihar); Mr. P Rajeeve (Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mr. Rajniti Prasad (Rashtriya Janta Dal, Bihar), Mr. K. Keshava Rao (Indian National Congress, Andhra Pradesh) and Syed Azeez Pasha (Communist Party of India, Andhra Pradesh). Lok Sabha members joining the delegation included Mr. Yashwant Sinha (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Hazaribagh, Jharkhand); Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi (All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh); Mr. Baijayant Jay Panda (Biju Janata Dal, Kendrapara, Odisha); Mr. Deepender Hooda, (INC, Nabarangpur (ST), Odisha); Mr. Hamdullah Sayeed (INC, Lakshadweep (ST), Lakshadweep); Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, (BJP, Bhagalpur, Bihar); Mr. Shatrughan Sinha (BJP, Patna Sahib, Bihar); Ms. Supriya Sadanand Sule (Nationalist Congress Party, Baramati Maharashtra) and Mr. Bhartruhari Mahtab (Biju Janata Dal, Cuttack, Odisha).

Pakistani MPs who joined the two-day Dialogue included Senator Ishaq Dar (Punjab, PML-N), Senator Saeeda Iqbal (ICT, PPPP), Senator Tariq Azeem Khan (ICT, PML), Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo (Balochistan, NP), Senator Dr. Abdul Malik, (Balochistan, NP), Senator Sabir Ali Baloch (Balochistan, PPPP), Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan (Sindh, MQM), Mr. Humayun Saifullah Khan, MNA, (NA-27Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PML), Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Abdul Qadir Baloch, MNA (NA-271 Kharan-cum-Panjgur, Balochistan, PML-N), Mr. Ayaz Amir, MNA (NA-60, Chakwal-I, Punjab, PML-N), Dr. Farooq Sattar (MNA, NA-249, Karachi-XI, Sindh, MQM), Ms. Fouzia Ejaz Khan, MNA, (NA-317-Sindh-X, MQM), Ms. Imrana Saeed Jamil, MNA, (NA-318, Sindh-XI, Sindh, MQM), Mr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, MNA, (NA-96, Gujranwala-II, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Khushbakht Shujaat, MNA, (NA-250, Karachi XII, Sindh, MQM), Mr. Kishan Chand Parwani, MNA, (NA-341, Non-Muslim-IX, PML), Dr. Lal Chand, MNA (NA-335, Non-Muslim-III, Sindh, PPPP), Mian Abdul Sattar, MNA, (NA-193 R.Y.Khan-II, Punjab, PPPP), Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, MNA, (NA-71 Mianwali-I, Punjab, PPPP), Ch. Naseer Ahmed Bhutta, MNA, (NA-127, Lahore-X, Punjab, PML-N), Dr. Nahid Shahid Ali, MNA, (NA-315, Sindh-VIII, MQM), Begum Nuzhat Sadiq, MNA, (NA-277, Punjab-V, PML-N), Mr. Riaz Fatyana, MNA, (NA-94, T.T. Singh-III, Punjab, PML), Mr. Sajid Ahmad, MNA (NA-257, Karachi-XIX, Sindh, MQM), Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, MNA, (NA-50, Rawalpindi-I, Punjab, PML-N), Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, MNA, (NA-290, Punjab-XVIII, PPPP), Mr. Abdul Rasheed Godil, MNA, (NA-252 Karachi XIV, Sindh, MQM), Ms. Shireen Arshad Khan, (NA-283, Punjab-XI, PML-N), Ms. Tasneem Sidiqui, MNA, (NA-285, Punjab-XIII, PML-N), Ms. Parveen Masood Bhatti, (NA-281, Punjab-IX, PML-N), Mr. Nadeem Afzal Gondal, MNA (NA-64, Sargodha-I, Punjab, PPPP), Dr. Ayatullah Durrani, MNA (NA-268, Kalat-cum-Mastong, Balochistan, PPPP), Ms. Palwasha Behram Khan, MNA (NA-291, Punjab- XIX, Punjab, PPPP), Mr. Abid Sher Ali, MNA (NA-84, Faisalabad-V, Punjab, PMLN), Syed Asif Hasnain, MNA (NA-255, Karachi-XVII, Sindh, MQM), Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, MNA (NA-253, Karachi-XV, Sindh, MQM), Pir Aftab Hussain Gillani, MNA (NA-226, Mirpurkhas-cum-Umerkot-I, Sindh, PPPP), Justice (Rtd) Fakhar-un-Nisa Khokhar, MNA, (NA-295, Punjab- XXIII, Punjab, PPPP), Ms. Asiya Nasir, MNA ( NA-322, Balochistan III, MMA)and Ms. Shahnaz Saleem, MNA, (NA-280, Punjab-VIII, PML-N).

Earlier, PILDAT facilitated two Parliamentary Dialogues in January and August 2011 in Islamabad and New Delhi respectively. The objective behind the Dialogues has been to enhance the role of Parliamentary Diplomacy in Pakistan�s relations in the region and around the World.