NEWS

Pak delegation should meet Pandits: Farooq

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
May 10, 2003 01:37 IST

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.

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

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