The separatist Hurriyat Conference leaders’ plan to visit Pakistan may hit a roadblock with India today making it clear that their travel beyond Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir would be contrary to the understanding between the two countries.
The Centre agreed to travel forms to Hurriyat leaders who have decided to take the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on June 2.
Pakistan has invited all Hurriyat leaders to travel to that country and the part of Kashmir under its occupation by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus.
Responding to questions from reporters in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said government has a “clear understanding with Pakistan that passengers travelling on this bus can travel only within the territory of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.” “Any travel beyond the territory would not be in keeping with the understanding between the two governments", he said.
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Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed on Friday advised All Party Hurriyat (APHC) Conference leaders not to travel beyond Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) during their visit.
He said the controversy surrounding the APHC leaders’ visit to Islamabad on the permit system should not become an impediment in their travel plans and he hoped the matter would be resolved amicably.
Mufti told reporters that it was advisable for the Hurriyat leaders not to travel beyond the Kashmir according to the “understanding” reached between India and Pakistan.
“Under the permit system, common citizens of Kashmir can travel only to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmiri Huryyat leaders have got travel documents and would arrive Pakistan through Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service on June 2,2005.
Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said all the legal requirements were being fulfilled so that they could go Azad Kashmir according to the schedule.
India Foreign Office spokesman said Srinagar passport office assesses applications for individuals. He said travel of Hurriyat leader beyond the Azad Kashmir would be against the reconciliation between them.
Contrary to this, Hurriyat leaders hope Pakistan would allow them traveling in other parts of the country and mee.
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Hurriyat Conference leaders, who have been yearning to visit Pakistan, today said they had received an invitation from the PoK government and would be travelling by the recently launched Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service at a date to be decided shortly.
"We have been invited by the government of Pakistan occupied Kashmir over telephone for a visit," Chairman of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told PTI.
Confirming that his faction would undertake the journey, he said the Hurriyat would meet early next week to decide on the journey dates.
A formal invitation would also follow very soon, he added.
Sources in the
CPI(M) leader from Jammu and Kashmir Mohd Yousuf Tarigami today said India's stand on the travel plan of Hurriyat Conference leaders across the LOC should not be seen as creating hurdles in confidence-building measures between the two countries.
He said technical issues on Hurriyat leaders' visit to Pakistan or Pak-occupied-Kashmir should not be allowed to take centre-stage in the peace process.
Indian government has said any move by Hurriyat leaders to travel beyond PoK would go against the understanding reached between India and Pakistan during the peace process.
Tarigami, General Secretary of the party's state unit, said the "peace process requires forward movement
Leaders of the moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) today collected their forms for travel on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on June two.
"We have collected five forms for our leaders to travel on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on June two," a spokesman of the Hurriyat moderate faction led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq told PTI here.
The DFP, led by Shabir Ahmad Shah took 15 forms for its state-level delegation to PoK, a party spokesman said.
The JKLF-led by Mohammad Yaseen Malik, who yesterday announced his decision to undertake the trip, also collected application forms
