Several Kashmiri leaders from both sides of the Line of Control are expected to attend a two-day seminar organised by the International Kashmir Alliance in London on May 29-30.
Dr Syed Nazir Gilani, secretary general of the London-based Jammu and Kashmir Council for Human Rights, is the convenor of the seminar.
From the Indian side, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, National Conference member of Parliament Abdul Rashid Shaheen and People's Conference chairman Sajjad Lone are expected to attend the meeting. Abdullah has already reached London and Shaheen left Delhi for the British capital on May 27.
Though People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, Salman Khursheed of the Congress and Maulvi Abbas Ansari and Mirwaiz Omar Farooq of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference were also invited, they will not be able to make it.
While Mehbooba Mufti will be busy with domestic politics, Khursheed will be on tour to Norway and will return to India on May 29, an official at his Delhi residence told rediff.com
Ansari told rediff.com on phone from his Srinagar residence that he and the Mirwaiz do not have the necessary travel documents. In the latter's case, the National Democratic Alliance government had confiscated his passport for making anti-government statements.
"The organisers have invited leaders from both sides of Kashmir to hold dialogue. We feel we should attend all such seminars, which provide us with an opportunity to exchange views with people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Exchange of ideas will only lead to a solution to the Kashmir problem," Shaheen told rediff.com before leaving.
Reports from Pakistan said invitees from Gilgit and PoK, too, were facing difficulties getting permission to travel.
"This conference is international in the true sense, as we have invited more than 65 people from Pakistan, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit and Baltistan who represent all sections of the Kashmiri community. We have also invited liberal-minded politicians from Pakistan who believe in peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute," said IKA spokesperson Dr Shabir Choudhry, who has been raising the issue through his books and at various other fora.
"We had invited more than 60 people from Jammu and Kashmir and India, and more than 20 of them have got visas to participate in the conference. We have also invited over 100 people from the United Kingdom and the United States of America, including politicians, diplomats and scholars," he said.
The new government is yet to announce its Kashmir policy, though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that it would continue to hold talks to resolve the issue. Congress leaders declined to comment on the subject in the absence of clear guidelines from the government.
