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Music diplomacy between Pakistan and India
seems to have left behind the cricket diplomacy of the olden
days as leaders of the two countries now are into exchange
of CDs of musical maestros, which it seems will bring back
the vibes into the on-going dialogue process.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, despite his very hectic schedule,
managed to gift a set of six musical CDs of Pakistani masters,
including those of Mehdi Hassan, Noor Jehan, Iqbal Bano, Farida
Khanum, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and others to his counterpart
Manmohan Singh and also to former prime minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee.
Vajpayee, also a well-known poet, reciprocated the gesture
and gifted the prime minister with a set of two CDs of his
own poems, in the voices of Lata and Jagjit. He said it was
just a gesture of goodwill, but added in a lighter tone, that
it may be called music diplomacy.
Late president Gen Ziaul Haq’s unscheduled attendance
to witness a Pakistan-India cricket match at the height of
tension between the two was dubbed as cricket diplomacy by
the media.
The prime minister also presented two Kurtas and waistcoats
for his counterpart, made by a famous Pakistani designer besides
some traditional "Rewaris" and two specially made
"Khusas".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was born in Chakwal. His wife
also belonged to a village - Dhaku, around four km from Chakwal.
Backgound channels, like the Track-II diplomacy, have played
a key role in enhancing people-to-people contacts and is now
even officially recognised by both the sides for their effective
contribution towards bringing the two countries close.
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