Musharraf invited to visit his ancestral ‘haveli’

Haveli where General Pervez Musharraf spent his early childhood and (R) street lighting being redone in anticipation of his visit. — PTI photos

New Delhi, June 22
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was today formally invited to visit his ancestral “haveli” at Kucha Saadullah Khan, a congested locality behind Golcha cinema in the walled city of Delhi.

Mr Rakesh Gola, one of three brothers who own part of the sprawling Nehar Wali Haveli, handed over an invitation signed by his mother, Ms Malti Gola, to Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Jalil Abbas Jilani this afternoon.

“Mr Jilani promised to visit us soon as part of the preparations for the President’s visit to the place of his birth,” Mr Rakesh Gola said.

“He also told us that the invitation would be forwarded to the President today itself,” he said.

The “haveli”, spread over 24,817 sq ft and valued in 1946 at Rs 100,000, was divided among the five children of Qazi Mohtashimuddin, the General’s great-grandfather. UNI

APHC seeks audience with Vajpayee, Musharraf
Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 22
In a significant development, the APHC has proposed separate meetings with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf during the Delhi summit next month. This, according to the APHC Chairman, who has written identical letters to the two leaders, will “translate the process into a purposeful political exercise” to resolve the Kashmir issue.

“Now that the summit will be held in the second week of July, 2001, the APHC proposes a meeting with your Excellency, which hopefully may translate the process into a purposeful political exercise”, the letter addressed to the two leaders of India and Pakistan by the Hurriyat Conference Chairman, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat stated. The copies of these letters were circulated to the Press here this afternoon. The decision to extend its cooperation and write to the two leaders had been taken at a meeting of the Hurriyat Conference executive council held here on June 13, the letter stated.

“While taking stock of the political situation obtaining across the region, the APHC executive council at its extra-ordinary meeting held on June 13, 2001, unanimously decided to help consolidate, with reference to the issue of Kashmir the peace process set afoot in Delhi and Islamabad. Let there be no misgivings about its sensitivities notwithstanding, we will have to demonstrate a deeper sense of responsibility and a higher degree of understanding in dealing with the situation, which has unmistakably assumed alarming proportions. This is where the APHC feels summoned to acknowledge with appreciation the statesmanship” of the two leaders “to have agreed to initiate a dialogue with seriousness and courage at the summit level,” the letter stated.

This is a sudden shift in the policy of the separatist conglomeration of over 23 parties which has sought the audience of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The APHC had been seeking to have audience with the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf and other leaders and the militant leadership in Pakistan to pave the way for the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The APHC had earlier declined to meet the Centre’s chief negotiator, Mr K.C. Pant, who held discussions on the Kashmir situation with a cross section of society in Jammu and Kashmir a month earlier.