Peace process irreversible: Nirmala Deshpandey

Islamabad, Apr 25: The head of Indian parliamentary delegation to Pakistan, Ms Nirmala Deshpanday, has asserted that the Pakistan-India peace process is irreversible and the people and lawmakers of both nations will not allow either of the two governments to withdraw from it.

''Parliamentarians of the two countries should work collectively to resolve bilateral problems,'' she told reporters last night at dinner hosted by Deputy Convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar.

Known as 'Didi', Ms Deshpandey was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper that people of both India and Pakistan had attached great expectations with the peace process and were anxiously awaiting its success.

An ardent supporter of the composite dialogue process, she said the peace process could not be rolled back now and was bound to move forward.

Dr Sattar said during his meeting with the Indian parliamentary delegation, they reviewed that how relations between the two countries could be improved and the peace process strengthened and stabilised.

He said it was also discussed how to make the peace process irreversible and set a timeframe for the completion of the process.

The possibility of strengthening parliamentary diplomacy to ensure sustainability of the process also figured at the talks, Dr Sattar said.

''The two sides agreed that there should be more exchanges of parliamentary delegations between the two countries,'' he added.

The MQM leader said the success of the peace process would enable the people of both countries to come out of the quagmire of poverty, unemployment and price hike and attain their due share in the world economy.

He expressed the hope that the future governments in both the countries would also find it difficult to withdraw from the peace process.

UNI