New Delhi and Islamabad will not admit it, but a member of the Pakistan National Assembly saw no harm in facing up to the truth.
M P Bhandara, a Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) member, bluntly told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday that the latest peace moves had been ordered by the United States.
"Whether one likes it or not, America, being a hyperpower, will involve itself in every affair of the world," Bhandara, who is part of a group of Pakistani parliamentarians visiting India, said.
India claims to have a road map for the talks, but there has been no indication from either side when a dialogue will actually begin.
The Pakistani parliamentarians, on a two-day visit to Kolkata, said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the best man to talk peace. "... he is a man of peace and a strong leader," Ishaq Khan Khakwani, another PML-Q MP, said.
Shakila Rashid of Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said: "I am a woman politician and a homemaker. Women always want peace and so I as a parliamentarian will strive for it."
The MPs also stressed on the need to improve ties between the peoples of India and Pakistan by encouraging trade, and pleaded for the resumption of free border movement.
"Terrorists will continue to exist and so importance should be given to bilateral trade and business," Khakwani said.
The delegation condemned the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which has been blamed by India for the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament and several other strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and other places.
"The Lashkar is under strict surveillance in our country," Bhandara said. "How can we support them when they have killed our men too?"
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