GUJR AT: Three former prime ministers of Nepal and Pakistan have decided to form a forum of former prime ministers of Saarc countries in a bid to promote democracy and good governance.

The decision to launch the forum was made at a meeting in Islamabad over breakfast at the residence of former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Husain.

Two former prime ministers of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal, joined Shujaat over breakfastin the presence of representatives of India and Bangladesh who also endorsed this proposal on behalf of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpaee and Dr Manmohan Singh, two former prime ministers of India, and Bangladesh ex-PM Khalida Zia.

The representatives of India and Bangladesh, Vijay Jolly, a prominentleader of the ruling BJP and Mehboob Alam, a leader of the opposition from Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were present at the breakfast along with Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Secretary General of the PML Q.

The former prime minister of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal was nominated as the convener of the SAARC former Prime Ministers Forum, while Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain will be the Pakistan coordinator of the SAARC PM Forum to coordinate with four other former prime ministers of Pakistan, including Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Shaukat Aziz.

Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain told Dawn that he had offered to host the first formal meeting of the forum of former prime ministers in Pakistan at a mutually convenient date within this year in 2016 and the offer had been accepted by the other participants of the maiden meeting.