Thursday, June 9 2005 09:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid yesterday (Jun 8, 2005) applied for the special permit to travel by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus for a visit to Jammu and Kashmir where he planned to meet Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and hard-line Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

"I have applied today, sought a seat in the June 15 bus. I want to go as a common citizen and common Kashmiri," Rashid told Geo TV in Islamabad.

He said it would be a private visit being undertaken at the invitation of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Yasin Malik, who is currently touring Pakistan along with moderate Hurriyat leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

If granted permission, he would be travelling by the June 15 bus along with the visiting Kashmiri separatist leaders, who are scheduled to return the same day after their visit to Pakistan.

Rashid said that during his stay in Srinagar, he would meet leaders of various political groups. "I will not go by allegiances whether they are this or that side," he said, adding that he would also meet Geelani, who had turned down Pakistan's invitation to visit the country and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).