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Veteran
Pakistani Politician To Visit Kashmir, To Negotiate With India
By
Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
September 4 (IslamOnline) - A veteran Pakistani politician, known for
his friendly approach towards India is likely to undertake a visit to
the Delhi next month as part of the efforts of a government body for the
start of negotiations between the two neighbors.
Ajmal
Khattak of the National Awami Party said he would also try to go to
Srinagar, the summer capital of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir,
to meet the Kashmiri leadership.
If
allowed in this venture, Khattak would be the first ever-Pakistani
official to visit Indian Held Kashmir since the region was divided in
1947. The Indian government has never allowed Pakistani nationals,
especially the officials to visit the troubled valley where a freedom
movement has claimed over 50 thousand lives since the birth of Pakistan.
Ajmal
Khattak has been assigned to go to Delhi by the chairman of the Kashmir
Committee, a government body established to help resolve the dispute on
this Himalayan region. Pakistan and India both lay claim on Kashmir
which stands divided between the two countries and two of the last three
wars between the two neighbors were fought over this issue.
Khattak
said he would go to Delhi and try to meet Indian and Kashmiri leaders to
try to find some common grounds on the disputed issues regarding
Kashmir. “If allowed I would like to go to Srinagar and meet the
Kashmiri leaders” he said.
Khattak
belongs to those Pushtoon political leaders who were the allies of
Indian leader Gandhi and were opposed to the division of the Indian
subcontinent. This group is considered to be the only political entity
in Pakistan which has a soft corner for India.
Khatak’s
next month visit to India is unlikely to achieve any breakthroughs but
diplomatic sources believe that this could be a positive development
towards the reduction of tensions between the two countries which are on
the rise since December last year.
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