New Delhi, June 16
Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid has not given his name so far for clearance by Indian authorities for travelling to Jammu and Kashmir by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on June 30, official sources said here today. ‘’We have not received his name so far,’’ a senior official of the External Affairs Ministry said here when asked whether Sheikh Rashid would be permitted to come to India by the bus in the wake of reports about his role in holding terrorist training camps.
Asked about media reports today that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad had been told to convey to the Pakistan government that Sheikh Rashid should not be allowed to travel to India, the official reiterated that his name had not come as yet.
Sheikh Rashid proposes to visit J and K on June 30 by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus to meet his relatives and offer prayers at his ancestral graveyard.
However, a shadow was cast on the proposed visit after Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik said in Islamabad on Monday that Sheikh Rashid had helped the Kashmir ‘’cause’’ and organised training camps for Kashmiri separatists.
Although the Pakistani Minister denied his involvement, the allegations made by Yasin Malik were confirmed by former Pakistan army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and former Minister Nasirullah Babar who said that Sheikh Rashid indeed ran terrorist-training camps.
Meanwhile, the BJP today asked the government to convey to Pakistan ‘’unambiguously’’ that its Information Minister was not welcome to India because of his ‘’confirmed links’’ in running terrorist-training camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). — UNI
