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New Delhi: Taking a U-turn from his war rhetoric, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on April 25 mooted a proposal to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that he be allowed to lead an all-party delegation to Pakistan that will Include NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) president Sharad Pawar.

The move, according to Abdullah, was to break the ice between the two countries as there were a lot of calls in the country to bring peace in the region.

Talking to reporters after their 35-minute meeting with Vajpayee, Pawar said the decision to take the initiative came after the Prime Minister made attempts during his Srinagar trip recently to forge peace between the two countries.

Asked about the response from the Prime Minister, both Pawar and Abdullah said that it was "good" but added that there was no firm commitment from him.

"Obviously, he (Vajpayee) will be talking to some of his colleagues in the government before taking a decision," Pawar said while making it amply clear that the proposed visit of Parliamentarians had nothing to do with the government and it was purely a non-governmental approach.

"We have been spending too much on the non-developmental activities like security related expenditure while ignoring the critical sectors like unemployment, poverty and others," Pawar said.

When Abdullah was asked that till yesterday he had been talking about war with Pakistan and why there was a sudden change now, he said "the youth of this country want peace. My people are dying every day. Army was at border for 10 months but nothing happened. Now we have to look for peace."

PTI