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MUZAFFARABAD, June 1: A 10-member delegation of Kashmiri leaders from the held valley would be given a warm welcome on arrival here on Thursday by the fifth trans-Kashmir bus, officials said on Wednesday.
Seven members of the team, belonging to a moderate faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference are Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Prof Abdul Ghani Bhat, Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone, Fazl ul Haq Qureshi, Ghulam Mohammad Butt and Mohammad Yaqoob Wakil. The three other leaders, who do not belong to the APHC, are: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party president Syed Shabbir Ahmed Shah and secretary-general Mohammad Abdullah Tari.
Two other leaders, Shahid ul Islam and Nazir Ahmed Ronga, are already in Pakistan. They would join their colleagues at the Opi Bridge, some 61km south of here in Chakothi sector, on Thursday, officials said.
Apart from the Kashmiri leaders, six other passengers from the held Kashmir and 20 returning AJK residents would also be travelling on the bus, officials added.
AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat, leader of the opposition in AJK assembly Barrister Sultan Mahmood, ministers, MLAs, council members, heads of over a dozen political and religious parties, including the main opposition People’s Party’s president Sahibzada Mohammad Ishaq Zaffar and several other dignitaries would receive the guests at the Opi Bridge.
Two British parliamentarians of Pakistani origin, Shahid Malick and Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, would also be there. Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and secretary-general Syed Mushahid Hussain would fly into Chakothi to receive the guests.
The PML chief had invited the Kashmiri leaders to Pakistan during his recent visit to India.
LITTLE HOPE: Meanwhile, a senior Kashmiri separatist leader, scheduled to travel to Pakistan, said on Wednesday that people should not expect too much from the historic trip of Kashmiri leaders, adds Reuters.
“It is a beginning; nobody should be under this illusion that this visit will achieve a lot. Kashmir is a complicated issue and we should not expect miracles overnight,” Shabir Ahmad Shah, a senior separatist leader, told a news conference.
“Let us be realistic.” Mr Shah, a moderate, who was suspended from the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) nine years ago for defying an agreement not to meet US envoy Frank Wisner.
Mr Shah, who spent 20 years in different Indian jails, had launched the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party.
“We must take full advantage of this trip and talk to a cross-section of people in Azad Kashmir to find a permanent solution,” said Mr Shah.
In the past, India has denied most Hurriyat leaders permission to visit Pakistan.
However, a five-member Hurriyat team as well as Mr Shah and Yasin Malik of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front have taken advantage of the invitation from Islamabad to board the bus linking both parts of Kashmir that started last month.
