‘2025 will be year of Indo-Pak friendship'

The Indian High Commission in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, has invited Bhagat Singh Memorial Foundation Pakistan chairman Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi to participate in the official function being organised in the neighbouring country on the 76th Republic Day of India.

Geetika Srivastava, Charge d’ Affairs of the Indian High Commission, has sent the invitation to Qureshi for the reception to be held at Serena Hotel, Islamabad.

Congratulating the people of India on the Republic Day on behalf of the people of Pakistan, Qureshi said 2025 would prove to be the year of friendship between India and Pakistan. “Poverty will be removed from both countries, unemployment will end and prosperity will come to the people. It will be a year of restoration of public relations. Visa formalities should be simplified to visit shrines/religious places in both the neighbouring countries,” he said.

Talking to The Tribune, Qureshi said people-to-people contact needed to be strengthened. Recently, a delegation from India was invited to attend the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan. Such events should be organised on both sides of Punjab and trade must be restored to benefit growers, manufacturers and consumers, he said. “We should find ways to fight poverty, unemployment and other common issues,” he said.

The Qureshi family had migrated from Sukhera Basti, Abohar, to West Punjab in 1947. The family has been advocating to develop love and respect for martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.