The Hindu : PM approves India-Pakistan friendship balloon flight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 24, 2003

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PM approves India-Pakistan friendship balloon flight

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI Dec. 23 . In a rather unique initiative, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has approved an India-Pakistan friendship balloon flight at Islamabad, the venue of the SAARC meeting in Pakistan next month. The president of the Ballooning Club of India, Vishwa Bandhu Gupta, has proposed the flight.

A clearance from the Union Civil Aviation Ministry is awaited to work out the details of the logistics for the flight, and if approved, the friendship balloon will carry flags of all SAARC countries and a banner of friendship between India and Pakistan. "I have spoken to the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Rajiv Pratap Rudy. If I get the clearance from here, I will approach the Pakistani authorities,'' Mr. Gupta told The Hindu here today. Whether there will be any VIPs on the flight will depend on the nature of talks between the two countries, particularly between Mr. Vajpayee and the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

According to Mr. Gupta, the last time Gen. Musharraf was in India, he had accepted the idea of flying in the balloon from Lahore to Amritsar during his next here . However, relations between the two countries deteriorated after the December 2001 attack on Parliament and things did not move further.

The aim of the flight is to draw attention to the recent efforts of India to reinforce the many initiatives that have been taken to offer a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan. This symbolic flight would focus attention on a "New Year of Friendship" with a hope that it would bring peace and prosperity to both countries.

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