Some former ministers of India and Pakistan formed an informal Indo-Pak group and also had a first meeting on Friday in which they exchanged views on different aspects of India Pakistan relations. Four former FMs of Pakistan including Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Gohar Ayub Khan, Sartaj Aziz and Abdul Sattar and Indian former FM Jaswant Singh besides two former ministers K. Natwar Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar met informally here at the invitation of Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.
Talking to media after the meeting, Kasuri said the participation of all the members was in their individual capacities, who have held high offices in their respective countries. He said the group has assembled in the hope that their collective experience of India-Pakistan relations, spreading over several decades and ranging across the full spectrum of India-Pakistan relation, will enable constructive perspectives to be brought to bear on improving these relations.
Answering a question, Kasuri said the group discussed all issues including terrorism, water, Kashmir and trust deficit existing between the countries. "In a bid to pave the way for peace, we want to move forward inch by inch through collective wisdom and experience," he added.
The participants were united in their desire to contribute to the establishment of cordial and constructive co-operation, based on peace, tranquillity, friendship and good neighbourly relations, Kasuri said. However, he added, the participants were equally alive to the gravity and import of issues that needed to be addressed, and if possible resolved, in this joint quest for the realisation of their common objectives.
Kasuri said, the participants have agreed to meet informally alternately in India and Pakistan once or twice a year to discuss issues pertaining to India - Pakistan relations. He said the participants would cooperate with a view to sharing their experience, information and knowledge so that they could pursue individually their endeavours at the civil society level through the media and inter-governmental process in whatever manner they could.