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Jethmalani to lead bus diplomats

A 50-member delegation of jurists headed by Union Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani will pay a 12-day visit to Pakistan in an effort to bring about better ties between the two countries.

The delegation, which consists of retired judges of Supreme Court and several high courts, will travel on May 29 on the recently introduced bus service between Delhi and Lahore.

The visit is in response to the first-ever visit of a Pakistan Bar Council delegation to India after the Partition.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his message to delegation convenor and senior central government counsel Adish Agarwala, said that such visits by jurists of the two countries would consolidate friendship and facilitate closer understanding between the two countries.

The jurists will meet several top jurists and leaders including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief.

On their way to the Wagah border, the district bar associations will receive the jurists at Ambala, Jalandhar and Amritsar. About 200 lawyers will bid farewell at the Wagah border.

The Pakistan delegation, headed by their Attorney General and Pakistan Bar Council Chairman Mohammad Farooq, will receive the Indian guests applying tilak of their soil on the visitors' foreheads. The Indian jurists will reciprocate the gesture.

During their stay, the delegation will participate in a seminar on Indo-Pak relations at Lahore.

The delegation includes former Supreme Court judges Kuldip Singh and K N Saikia, Madhya Pradesh Lok Ayukta Justice Faizanuddin, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission Chairman Justice A N Divecha, National Human Rights Commission member Justice V S Malimath and former chief justice of the Calcutta high court D S Tewatia besides Law Commission member Dr N M Gatate.

UNI

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