Date:26/05/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/26/stories/2005052614871300.htm

National

Hurriyat leaders can travel to PoK as "individuals"

Diplomatic Correspondent

Understanding arrived at during Musharraf visit

NEW DELHI: The Government of India has taken the position that leaders of the Hurriyat factions are free to travel as ``individuals'' to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus.

Though officially the Government is not saying anything on the issue, the understanding to allow Hurriyat leaders to travel to the ``other side'' was reached during the April 17 talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New Delhi.

It did not figure in the April 18 joint statement issued by the Prime Minister and the President, but Gen. Musharraf told Pakistani presspersons accompanying him that Dr. Singh had no problem with Hurriyat leaders going to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Decision for Islamabad

According to Government sources, the ``extension'' of the invitation by the Pakistani side to include Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other parts of Pakistan was purely a decision for Islamabad.

As far as India is concerned, Hurriyat leaders would have to apply for a permit to travel on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus like other passengers. And, as per the understanding reached on the bus service, the permit was not supposed to be for other parts of Pakistan. It was Pakistan that insisted that ``travel'' on the bus should be restricted to ``Kashmir'' and ``Kashmiris.''

Political mileage

But, given the fact that some political mileage would be derived from these Hurriyat meetings in Islamabad with the political and military leadership, the Pakistanis now want to extend this visit to other parts of their country.

Though the Hurriyat factions have, of late, met just about everybody of importance in the Pakistani structure — from Gen. Musharraf downwards — a visit by the Hurriyat leaders remains important in Islamabad's scheme of things.

Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, a senior Hurriyat leader, had not only met Pakistani leaders abroad, but also the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, Pakistan's ``premier'' intelligence agency abroad.