Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid today applied for the special permit to travel by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus for a visit to Jammu and Kashmir where he planned to meet Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
“I have applied today, sought a seat in the June 15 bus. I want to go as a common citizen and common Kashmiri,” Rashid told Geo TV here.
He said it would be a private visit being undertaken at the invitation of JKLF leader Yasin Malik, who is currently touring Pakistan along with moderate Hurriyat leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
If granted permission, he would be travelling by the June 15 bus along with the visiting Kashmiri separatist leaders, who are scheduled to return the same day after their visit to Pakistan.
Rashid said that during his stay in Srinagar, he would meet leaders of various political groups. “I will not go by allegiances whether they are this or that side,” he said, adding that he would also meet Geelani, who had turned down Pakistan’s invitation to visit the country and PoK.
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Related Travel Information
Talking to a private television on Saturday, AJK prime minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan said, "Our brothers and sisters coming to us are free to visit the place of their choice. They are our guests and they could go everywhere they want." He regretted AJK inhabitants had to face certain travel restriction during their stay in Indian controlled Kashmir .
He said he was grateful to Islamabad for doling out requisite funds to Muzaffarabad for developing Azad Kashmir territories .
Sardar Sikandar said, "as for development works, territories under the Indian occupation lag far behind what we own. And this
Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has not submitted his travel document to facilitate his journey to Jammu and Kashmir by Srinagar-Muzzafarabad bus service.
Informed sources said the forms received from the Pakistani side did not have Ahmad's form despite reports from Islamabad indicating that he had expressed his desire to travel to Kashmir following an invitation from separatist leader and JKLF chief Yaseen Malik.
The sources said travel documents of passengers for the next bus, which will run on June 16, were being scrutinised before giving permits to people living on both sides of Kashmir.
Rashid, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir,
PoK house opposes travel by Indians, Pakistanis on bus
The Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Legislative Assembly has unanimously opposed travel by Indians and Pakistanis on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and said that the bus service should be used by the Kashmiris, as it was meant for them.
The house demanded that visits by Indians and Pakistanis should be made over the international border as travel by them on the bus service could create other complications including the transformation of the ceasefire line into a border, reports the Daily Times.
House officials said that no immigration office should be set up in Pakistan occupied
India yesterday said it had received the application of controversial Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed for travelling to Jammu and Kashmir by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus.
"We have received the application which will be processed in due course," an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in reply to questions.
The spokesman comment came following reports from Islamabad which said Pakistani officials had forwarded to the Indian authorities the name of Sheikh Rashid, who intends to visit Srinagar on June 30 amid signals that he might be denied the travel permit.
"This is a test case for India, which claims the
Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid today denied media reports that he has altered his plans to travel to Jammu and Kashmir by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service.
Reports in the Pakistan media that I am planning to go to Srinagar via New Delhi are wrong, Rashid told PTI.
He said he would travel by the Muzafarabad-Srinagar bus service on June 30.
Media reports here said that Rashid altered his plans in response to criticism from some politicians here that he was committing a "sin" by crossing the LoC to travel to Srinagar.
Rashid also said that contrary to earlier reports he would travel by
