Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Thursday that the cricket diplomacy had brought Pakistan and India closer to resolve all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir dispute, for peace in the region. "Message from Mohali is that the peoples of Pakistan and India want peace in the region", she said while talking to reporters outside the Parliament House.
She said it was a good beginning. Both the countries would have to find ways to resolve the issues. The Information Minister said that the interior secretary-level talks between the two countries were successful and hoped that the upcoming commerce secretary and foreign secretary level talks would also be a success. She said that Pakistan and India needed to focus on dealing with common enemies - inflation, poverty, hunger, disease and unemployment-for the prosperity of their peoples.
She said there was a consensus between the two sides was that they had the will and ability to resolve their problems and stressed the need to give the world this positive message. Firdous Ashiq Awan said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to watch the match and discuss reviving the peace process.
The cricket diplomacy will offer more ways in the way of gestures than breakthroughs in the decades-old conflict, she added. Replying to a question, Firdous said that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh thanked Gilani for his visit to India. To another question, she said that Prime Minister Gilani had invited Dr Manmohan and Indian National Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi to visit Pakistan and they accepted his invitation. She said that said both Gilani and Manmohan were committed to achieve the common goal and to serve their people.
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