The Hindu : National : BJP opposes Hurriyat leaders' travel without passports

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 27, 2005

National

National

BJP opposes Hurriyat leaders' travel without passports

Special Correspondent

"If Hurriyat leaders are allowed to travel to Islamabad or Lahore via Muzaffarabad, it will set a bad precedent"

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has objected to the idea of Hurriyat leaders being allowed to travel to Pakistan to visit areas outside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) without proper passports and visas.

The party has said that the agreement between India and Pakistan to allow Kashmiris to travel across the Line of Control within the State on permits did not extend to the rest of the country. "If Hurriyat leaders are allowed to travel to Islamabad or Lahore via Muzaffarabad using the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service it will set a bad precedent and it would demonstrate that the Hurriyat leadership does not want to travel on Indian passports," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said here on Thursday.

Clarification sought

The party is planning to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister on this ticklish issue. "The Government should clarify. The permit system was devised to allow Kashmiris to travel from Jammu and Kashmir to PoK and the other way round, not to allow people to use the bus service to travel to Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad or anywhere else in Pakistan," Mr. Javadekar said.

The party was reacting to reports that leaders of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was planning to leave for Muzaffarabad on June 2 on an invitation from Pakistan. On Thursday there were reports that Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik was also trying to organise a delegation of the Front to visit Muzaffarabad at the same time.

The party objected to the statement made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that any lasting peace between India and Pakistan should be guaranteed by the international community. However, for the moment the criticism was restricted to the comment that "such a concept has never been broached before."

Bihar issue

On Bihar, the party cited a report saying Bihar Governor Buta Singh had denied that he had any proof of horse-trading of MLAs in Bihar. "Mr. Buta Singh's admission ... that no specific complaint was received regarding horse-trading vindicates our stand and shakes the credibility of the Prime Minister (who had also made a charge of horse-trading)," Mr. Javadekar said. After this it has become clear that politics was the only reason that moved the Government to dissolve the Bihar Assembly, he charged.

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