US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI4760

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 004760 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, IN, PK, INDO-PAK 
SUBJECT: INDIAN PANCHAYATIS GIVE GLOWING REPORT ON 
PA-FUNDED PAKISTAN VISIT 
 
1.  The New Delhi-based Institute for Social Sciences (ISS) 
on June 16 hosted Pakistani High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan 
for the formal release of the trip report detailing the 
two-week tour of Pakistan that ISS organized for 33 elected 
Indian local government representatives.  The delegation of 
mayors and panchayatis (village councillors) was drawn from 
18 states, was gender-balanced, and included at least one 
member each representing Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, 
Dalits, and Scheduled Tribes. 
 
2.  This visit, largely funded by a USD 78,695 grant from the 
Embassy's Public Affairs Section, reciprocated the July 2004 
first-ever tour of India (Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, 
Karnataka, and Kerala) by 27 Pakistani locally-elected 
representatives that ISS organized, with Ford Foundation 
funding.  The focus of both trips was to initiate grassroots, 
peer-to-peer cross-border contacts, to combat stereotypes and 
misperceptions, and to engage with counterparts on common 
problems and share lessons learned in the field of local 
governance. 
 
Panchayatis to Pakistan 
----------------------- 
 
3.  The Indian delegation crossed into Pakistan via the Wagah 
Border on March 14 and visited Lahore, Chakwal, Lala Musa, 
Multan, Muzaffargarh, Sargodha, and PM Singh's hometown of 
Gah (all in Punjab), as well as Islamabad, Peshawar, 
Hyderabad, and Karachi.  Program organizer Dr. Ash Narain Roy 
told Poloff the greeting they received at each town and 
village was warmer and friendlier than the one before.  The 
delegation met with their counterparts in local government, 
as well as with media, human rights organizations, women's 
groups, political activists, and civil society.  They also 
talked with political party leaders, provincial ministers, 
and federal cabinet officials. 
 
4.  At each stop, the Indian delegation briefed their hosts 
on the panchayati raj system, and learned about Pakistan's 
2001 Local Government Devolution Plan, according to Dr. Roy. 
Indian delegates who grew up in pre-Partition Pakistan, such 
as Amritsar's Dr. SS Chhina (born in Sargodha), visited their 
birthplaces, where entire villages welcomed them.  Other 
highlights included celebrating Pakistan Day (March 23) and 
Holi (March 24) and holding a joint Indo-Pak peace rally in 
Multan, before returning to Delhi via Karachi on March 28. 
 
5.  In Lahore, the group met with Pakistani minorities 
(Christians and Baha'is) and discussed the common problems 
facing religious minority groups in South Asia, underlining 
India's avowed status as a secular state.  In Islamabad, the 
delegation met PM Shaukat Aziz's Adviser on Women's 
Development Nelofar Bakhtiar and Daniyal Aziz, Chairman of 
the National Reconstruction Board, which is charged with 
overseeing the devolution plan. 
 
6.  Roy told Poloff that the group was surprised in Peshawar 
by the vocal and articulate women local councillors, and by 
the showers of rose petals that greeted the group as they 
went from one meeting to the next.  They also took note of 
the large number of women councilors and civil society 
activists who met them when they arrived in Jhang late at 
night, which surprised the Indians who had heard that Jhang 
was "a very conservative place."  The Indian and Pakistani 
groups also discussed how each country reserves seats for 
women elected officials, funding for local government 
development projects, reining in corruption and patronage, 
and the Indo-Pak peace process. 
 
Well Covered, Abroad and at Home 
-------------------------------- 
 
7.  Pakistani media provided nearly daily coverage of the 
group's travels and meetings in the national English and Urdu 
language press ("Dawn," "The News," Jang") and on television. 
 The Urdu press carried more column-inches of coverage 
overall than did the English.  The Indian press reported the 
trip's highlights in national newspapers, though less 
thoroughly.  The mayors and panchayatis also provided 
articles and interviews for their "hometown" newspapers in 
English, Hindi, Malayam, Tamil, Bangla, and other regional 
languages.  The launch of the trip report, which was also 
partially PA-funded, was attended by 75 dignitaries, 
grass-root politicians, activists, and Delhi-based media. 
MULFORD