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Pakistan Prime Minister hails Sonia's statement

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, MAY 15 . The Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, has said that a change of government in India will not have any impact on the India-Pakistan peace process, as all political parties there back it.

In an informal chat with correspondents here today, Mr. Jamali said the outgoing Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had once told him that the process had the support of all the parties in India.

In the coming weeks and months, relations between the two countries would improve at a much faster pace as both sides got down to the resolution of all differences, including Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Jamali praised the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, for the statements in support of strengthening of relations with Pakistan and on continuation of the dialogue. ``Ms. Gandhi and several Congress leaders have talked enthusiastically about improving relations with Pakistan and we are happy.''The Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, said the Congress had supported the joint statement issued by Mr. Vajpayee and the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, in Islamabad. The Left Front had also supported that declaration. ``I think the other parties also have similar views.''

``The change of Government in India will make no difference in progress of Indo-Pak relations. We can now say that perhaps the new Government may take some time in this regard. The Government-formation process takes considerable time,'' he added.

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