Pakistan has turned down an Indian request to allow politicians from Jammu and Kashmir to travel in a separate bus along with the inaugural Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on April seven.
Highly placed sources said on Friday night that a communication was received from Pakistan denying permission for eight politicians from mainstream Indian political parties to travel to Muzaffarabad.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the first bus.
The Ministry of External Affairs had forwarded the names of National Conference chief Omar Abdullah, his party colleague Abdul Rahim Rather, People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and her party colleague Rangeel Singh, state Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee chief and Rural Development Minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Panther's Party chief Bhim Singh, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary M Y Tarigami to the Pakistani government earlier this week.
When contacted, Omar Abdullah told PTI over phone from Srinagar that this was a very 'unhappy development', as the aim of the eight politicians was not to politicise the historic event but to represent the people of Jammu and Kashmir across the border.
"I can't understand the rationale behind the decision of Pakistan to refuse permission," Omar said.
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