PoK leaders may not get visa

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 9. The Centre is unlikely to give visa to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)-based leader, Mr. Amanullah Khan, and others to visit India to attend Mr. G.M. Shah's conference in Jammu on ``In search of peace and solution''. Mr. Khan and 25 other ``leaders'' from the PoK and the Northern Areas have applied for visa from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Officials, however, were quick to point out that the applications would be processed as per India's existing visa regime, and no special dispensation could be made in case of those who purported to attend a politically-significant conference. At the same time, the officials are not all that certain that these ``leaders'' would be permitted by Pakistani authorities to visit India.

It is pointed out that a few months ago Pakistan denied permission to a prominent PoK-based leader to attend the ``Bristol Hotel'' dialogue, even though the Indian Government had granted the visa. The processing of the applications of Mr. Amanullah Khan and others appears to have become one more occasion for one-upmanship between two Foreign Offices.

Mr. G.M. Shah, who is president of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami National Conference and who has the reputation of being the ``estranged'' brother-in-law of the Chief Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, is trying to organise a gathering of all Jammu and Kashmir leaders. The stated objective is: (1) to ``enable the power of dialogue to reassert itself in Jammu and Kashmir''; (2) to enable ``the political leaders, protagonists of the armed struggle, social activists, intellectuals, technocrats and eminent citizens from both sides of the Line of Control'' to come together and talk things out; and, (3) to make ``practically workable and politically feasible recommendations for an amicable resolution'' of the Kashmir problem.

The Centre's reluctance to grant visa to ``leaders'' such as Mr. Amanullah Khan (who is also facing a number of criminal charges), however, according to officials, should not be construed as disapproval of Mr. Shah's venture. It is asserted that as an Indian citizen, Mr. Shah is free to organise any kind of political activity he and his party want. But at the same time, the Government reserves the right to deny entry to anyone who does not meet the criteria of the current visa regime, officials add.

Also, it remains to be seen whether Mr. Shah would go ahead with the conference. Earlier, it was scheduled to take place on February 10-11; it is now slated for March 17-18, next week.

Mr. Shah, who had displaced Dr. Farooq Abdullah as Chief Minister in 1984, is widely regarded as hostile to the Chief Minister, but keen observers believe that of late there is a kind of rapprochement between the two families. In fact, Mr. Shah's conference is being seen by some as having the blessings of the Chief Minister, and the purpose of the whole exercise appears to be to recover some of the separatist space from the Hurriyat Conference.

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