Pakistan on Saturday said India's refusal to permit Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed from travelling by the trans-Kashmir bus to Srinagar will not effect the ongoing peace process between the two countries.
"The decision will have no effect on the peace process between India and Pakistan," Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abass Jilani told IANS.
He said it was India's decision and the minister had applied in his personal capacity for permission to visit Srinagar.
"The government was not involved in the visit. It was the minister's decision to visit the Indian part of Kashmir to meet his relatives there," said Jilani.
Whatever be the reasons for the Indian denial, "the peace process between both the countries will continue".
India on Friday rejected Ahmed's request to travel by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus.
"The government of India has processed the application and has declined permission, taking into account all aspects," external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
Ahmed, who is a Kashmiri, said he wanted to travel on June 30 to visit relatives living on the other side of the Line of Control (LOC). He said the Indian decision had come as a "shock" to him.
{{/usCountry}}Ahmed, who is a Kashmiri, said he wanted to travel on June 30 to visit relatives living on the other side of the Line of Control (LOC). He said the Indian decision had come as a "shock" to him.
{{/usCountry}}"I am sure that my visit would have helped the peace process," he told IANS when asked if the denial would affect India-Pakistan relations.
Ahmed said he was ready to re-submit his application "if there are any flaws in it". Moreover, he said, his relatives in Kashmir would challenge the decision in the Indian Supreme Court.
"I was very hopeful. All the preparations were complete. My relatives were anxiously waiting for me. They have called me. They are quite dejected on the Indian refusal," he said.
"One day I will visit Kashmir," Ahmed vowed.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik, during his visit to Pakistan earlier this month, had said he was grateful to Ahmed, who had helped him and several other militants cross the LoC in the early 1990s.
Ahmed was quick to issue a denial, and Malik, on his return, said the Pakistani media had misquoted him.