VOA News / April 28, 2017

ISLAMABAD — A 15-member Pakistan parliamentary delegation will travel to Afghanistan on Saturday on a two-day official visit.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, will lead the delegation that will meet with their Afghan counterparts and the Afghan leadership, an official announcement said Friday.

“In the meetings, the matters related to enhance the cooperation between the two parliaments, besides resumption of dialogue to address the common issues between the two sides would be discussed,” Speaker Sadiq’s office said.

The visit is expected to help Pakistan and Afghan governments to resolve issues straining bilateral relations through negotiation, according to the announcement.

This is the first time such a broadly represented Pakistani parliamentary delegation is officially visiting Kabul.

The initiative stems from a recent understanding between Islamabad and Kabul to enhance contacts at political and military levels to try to ease tensions and find ways to an improved relations, officials said.

Two federal ministers, Abdul Qatar Baluch and Mir Hasil Bazijo are part of the delegation which consists of representatives of all parliamentary parties, including PPP and MQM.

Other members, include Raja Muhammad Zafar-UlHaq, leader of the house in Senate, Akram Khan Durrani, Mehmood Khan Achkzai, Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Syed Naveed Qamar, Shafqat Mehmood, Farooq Sattar, Haji Ghulam Ahmed Khan Bilour, Aftab Khan Sherpao, Sahibzada Tariqullah, G.G. Jamal and Mushahid Hussain Syed.

A high-level Pakistan military delegation visited Kabul on Thursday where it held talks with the acting Afghan defense ministry and military leadership on bilateral issues.

Allegations that security institutions in both countries covertly support and fund terrorist attacks against each other have lately deteriorated bilateral ties.