2 April, 2005	Saturday	22 Safar 1426

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NEW DELHI, April 1: Pakistan is believed to have turned down permission to a group of pro-India Kashmiri politicians who were expecting to travel in a separate bus on April 7 across the Line of Control, Indian news reports said here on Friday. According to the Press Trust of India, the Indian foreign ministry had forwarded a list of eight politicians from occupied Kashmir with a request that they be allowed to travel in a separate bus alongside the first passenger bus to be flagged off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. PTI quoted ‘highly-placed sources’ as saying that a communication was received from Pakistan denying the permission to eight politicians to travel.

Those denied permission, according to the report, include National Conference chief Omar Abdullah and his party colleague Abdul Rahim Rather, People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and her party colleague Rangeel Singh, occupied Kashmir’s Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, the occupied territory’s Congress chief and rural development minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Panther’s Party chief Bhim Singh, and communist deputy M Y Taregami. Pakistan officials in Delhi said they were not aware of any move to either seek travel permission or to deny it to the politicians.