Aiyar leads Indian team for Track II dialogue in Islamabad

An Indian parliamentary delegation led by Mani Shankar Aiyar today met their Pakistani counterparts here for a Track-2 dialogue that focussed on trade, water and rights issues.
Making it clear that the purpose of the 13-member delegation's visit is to keep the dialogue process going, Aiyar said he was happy that the democratic system is gaining momentum in Pakistan.
"There is a need to keep the dialogue going," he said in his address at the Pakistan-India Parliamentarians Dialogue-V that was organised by the think tank Pakistan Institute for Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT).
Pakistan and India will come closer because of the just concluded historic democratic transition in Islamabad, Aiyar said.

India had great hopes when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had come to power but recent incidents have upset people in India, he added.
Aiyar quoted former Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on the need for an "uninterrupted dialogue".

He also spoke about the days when he was posted in Pakistan as a Indian Foreign Service officer at the age of 27. "Those were the best times of my life," he said.
Even as Aiyar insisted on talks, fellow parliamentarian Kirti Azad of the BJP remained skeptical.
"I don't think any talk should be held till there is work on the basic problem of cross-border terrorism," he said while speaking to reporters at the Foreign Office.

Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security, hosted a lunch for the visiting delegation at the Foreign Office.