Warm welcome for Pakistani media
Team visiting Mumbai calls for discourse to help resolve differences in public sphere
Mumbai: A 14-member Pakistani media delegation arrived in Mumbai on a first ever week-long study trip amidst a rousing welcome marked by garlands and the blowing of traditional Maharashtrian trumpets.
The delegates from the Karachi and Hyderabad (Sindh) Press Clubs were received by a group of Press Club Mumbai members after arriving by a PIA flight at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.
Pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming response, delegation leader and Karachi Press Club president Tahir Hassan Khan said, "We are extremely happy to be in India. I am sure this joint endeavour by Karachi and Mumbai Press Clubs will lead to improving the relationship between India and Pakistan and, more importantly, strengthening the people-to-people contacts between the neighbours."
Interactive dialogue
The journalists representing leading newspapers and channels are visiting India for the first time. They propose to have an interaction with leaders of various political parties, industry leaders, journalists, social activists and common people. They were scheduled to meet Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, home minister R.R. Patil among others and also visit the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as a couple of newspapers and TV news channels' offices. The delegation will also visit prominent landmarks of Mumbai like Gateway of India and Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
The journalists would be in Mumbai until Saturday and then leave for Pune where they would again visit media houses besides attending events hosted by Sarhad, a non-government organisation working for India-Pakistan peace.
"The purpose of the visit is to promote a philosophy of understanding and tolerance between the two countries by increasing and improving the quality of media content when reporting on each others' country and bilateral issues," said Gurbir Singh, president of Mumbai's Press Club. "This is expected to give a boost to the peace process between the two countries."
The two press clubs are demanding that their governments allow free flow of information between the two countries and remove media restrictions besides an open and liberal visa regime for both the media community as well as for the common people.
