Author: Onkar Singh in New Delhi
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: May 10, 2003
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/09pak8.htm
The visit of the Pakistani parliamentary
delegation to India will not be complete till it meets Kashmiri Pandits,
Dr Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, told rediff.com
on Friday.
"How can the Pakistani parliamentary
delegation understand the realities of Kashmir without meeting our Kashmiri
Pandits who have been forced to live in migrant camps because of the terrorist
violence?" Abdullah asked.
On the efforts being made to ensure
such a meeting, Abdullah said he was in touch with former prime minister
Inder Kumar Gujral. "Since he has put in lot of effort in bringing the
delegation to India I have spoken to him and asked him to find some time
for the Kashmiri Pandits to meet the parliamentarians."
Former prime minister Chandershekhar
was among the prominent politicians who were present at a dinner hosted
by Ram Vilas Paswan, former union minister, in honour of the visiting delegation
on Friday night.
Others who showed up for dinner
included Congress leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Shivraj Patil, another
former speaker Balram Jakhar, chief Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy, Devi
Prasad Yadav of Janata Dal, former foreign secretary Romesh Bhandari, Bharatiya
Janata Party MP Kirti Azad and noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande.
