KARACHI, Oct 5: Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh on Wednesday had an interaction with government and political leaders, businessmen and intellectuals here before leaving for home concluding his visit to the country.

Mr Singh vowed to push forward the peace process with Pakistan and gave a positive signal when he visited the India House and witnessed the repair and renovation work in progress to make the Deputy High Commission operative.

Mr Singh met a high-powered delegation of the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party led by the party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Mr Fahim and his colleagues said that his party supported the increased people-to-people contact between the two countries and efforts to help the divided families to meet each other.

Mr Singh said he was confident that the Indian Deputy High Commission here would become operational in January, by which time Pakistan’s Deputy High Commission would also become functional in Mumbai and the overland train route via Khokhrapar-Monabao would open a new channel for people-to-people contact and promotion of trade and commerce.

The PPP delegation said it was happy over the ongoing peace process with India and recalled that the initiative for building cooperation between Pakistan and India had been taken by PPP chairperson and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. It stressed the need for carrying on the dialogue process on the basis of sovereign equality.

PPP sources said its delegation also emphasized the need for settling all outstanding disputes, including the Kashmir issue, through peaceful means and through dialogue.

The delegation included the Leader of Opposition in the Senate, Mr Raza Rabbani, Leader of Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and provincial chairman of the party’s foreign liaison committee Sardar Nabeel Ahmed Khan Gabol.

A high-powered delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, led by its deputy convener Dr Farooq Sattar and Mr Anwar Alam, in-charge of the coordination committee Pakistan, also met the Indian minister and exchanged views with him on matters of common interest. The MQM delegation included Wasim Aftab, Shakeel Umar, Syed Sardar Ahmad, M.A. Jaleel, Salahuddin Haider, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Nisar Panwhar, Bilqees Mukhtar and Faisal Sabzwari.

The meeting also attended by Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon was held in a cordial atmosphere. Talking to media personnel, Mr Singh acknowledged that people travelling from Karachi to India through Wagah encountered great difficulties.

He said he hoped that with the opening of the Khokhrapar-Monabao route they would be able to travel to India through a short route.

The reopening of the Indian Deputy High Commission here and the Khokhrapar-Monabao rail route would be of great help to visitors, the majority of whom travel from Karachi and the interior of Sindh. It would also give a big boost to bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts.

In reply to a question, Mr Singh emphasized the need for pushing forward the current peace process and said that some concrete measures were being taken. He said that the Deputy High Commission would become operational in a few weeks, and make it easier for Pakistanis to get visas.

Mr Singh said he had met MQM founder Altaf Hussain when the latter visited his residence last year. He said that everyone was working for the improvement of Indo-Pakistan relations.

Dr Farooq Sattar expressed satisfaction that the Khokhrapar-Monabao rail route would open soon and hoped it would strengthen mutually beneficial relations between the two peoples. He said that Mr Singh’s visit to Karachi would have long-term effects on bilateral relations.

Referring to the exchange of views with the Indian minister, Dr Sattar said that the two countries were also looking into the possibility of operating a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai and hoped the people of Sindh would soon hear good news. He proposed that Karachi and Mumbai should be made twin cities.

He also called for exchange of delegations between Sindh and Rajasthan for promoting trade and business.