Maintaining that travel by any individual by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service is limited to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as per the Indo-Pak agreement, the government today put the "onus" on Islamabad for any visit by Hurriyat leaders beyond PoK. The External Affairs Ministry also said some Hurriyat leaders had applied for passports which were being processed by the Regional Passport Office (RPO), Srinagar but expressed ignorance about the number of such Hurriyat leaders. "The position of the government is that it is willing to consider request for travel by any Indian national to Muzaffarabad and other parts across the Line of Control (LoC) by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters here. He said these requests are being processed in accordance with the understanding reached between India and Pakistan which specifies that the travel on basis of permits issued by the two sides is limited to the territory of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. On this basis, applications of some Hurriyat leaders have been processed and those accepted by Pakistani side have been allowed to travel, Sarna said. "If some Hurriyat leaders have been invited to travel to Islamabad, as reported, outside the provision of the above understanding, the onus for this lies with the Pakistani authorities," he said. On Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq's reported plans not to travel by the bus but by his private vehicle, the spokesman said "The agreement (for travel to PoK) is for the bus. How can I talk about cars? I will have to check with the Home Ministry. To a question about Hurriyat leaders applying for passports, Sarna said any Indian national applying for a passport is entitled to get it. He said the applications for passports are being processed and will be issued as soon as possible by the Srinagar RPO. Insisting that Hurriyat was an interested party to the Kashmir issue which even India did "not deny", Pakistan today said the separatist leaders should be allowed to talk to its leadership after which they could meet the leadership in New Delhi. Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during their recent talks had felt that the Kashmir issue needed to be resolved finally and there needed to be purposeful talks. "For purposeful talks, you have to talk to all the parties concerned," he told NDTV in Islamabad. "Even Indians do not deny that Hurriyat is an interested party. It stands to reason, therefore, that they should be allowed to meet with the leaders of Pakistan, the leaders of other side of Kashmir," Kasuri said. He said Pakistan did "not mind Kashmiri leaders going from here (Pakistan) and meeting leaders of government of India" and added that "that is the only way you can resolve the issue. Islamabad: ''We have an ocean of ideas with us to present them across the border,'' said former Hurriyat Chairman Abdul Ghani Bhat as he, along with other amalgam leaders, were served 'Wazwan', the world famous Kashmiri cuisine, for lunch at the Tourist Reception Centre here. He also expressed optimism that the cross-border bus will soon start plying on daily basis. ''Don't expect too much from us. We are not going there with some miracle which will resolve the 57-year-old Kashmir issue in a wink,'' said Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq as he bid goodbye to his supporters. He once again stressed the need for including the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the dialogue process between India and Pakistan. ''No solution to the Kashmir issue is acceptable till the people of the state are not involved in any dialogue process aimed at resolving the problem,'' the Mirwaiz said. The huge Hurriyat cavalcade comprising 1,000 private vehicles was also turned back from here and not allowed to move towards the Kaman Bridge, the last Indian military outpost, from where the separatist leaders will cross the Line of Control (LoC) to enter Pakistan- occupied Kashmir (PoK) at Chakoti. However, mediapersons were allowed to go till the ''Aman Setu (Peace Bridge)'' to cover the event. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik said this time he is going there as a member of the Peace Caravan. ''I am not going there with any message,'' he said. About talks with the militant groups, Malik said no such meeting is on the agenda of his visit. However, the JKLF Chief said he is looking forward to meeting some of his erstwhile militant friends who had crossed the LoC to get arms training in PoK. Malik's huge luggage contains signatures collected from thousands of people of Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain their views on the Kashmir issue. Hundreds of locals had gathered at the TRC here to have a glimpse of the separatist leaders. However, the function at the TRC was a low key affair as compared to the fanfare that was witnessed during the inaugural run of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. There was no song and dance programme, no band playing tunes of famous Hindi film songs, but slogans disturbed the otherwise quite atmosphere. Regional Passport Officer S.L. Sreeramulu, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Baramulla Range Mohammad Subhan Lone and other senior civil and police officials were here to receive and see off the separatist delegation to PoK. Slogan-shouting crowd greeted the separatist leaders enroute Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri road, resulting in traffic snarls at several places. Unprecedented security arrangements were seen along the Jhelum Valley road from Srinagar to the Kaman Post. "We will never stand in their way if they want to travel to Pakistan; but this particular route is meant only for the territory covering the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. We would allow them to travel to Pakistan with passports," Dr Singh said on Monday evening. The government has noted the statement of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to rediff.com on Monday, wherein he had said that the Hurriyat delegation would be visiting other places besides POK since they had been invited by the Pakistani government. Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is leading a five-member delegation to POK and is expected to meet Kashmir leaders from the other side of the border. " I am not aware of the government of India's reaction. Let us see what happens. We have submitted our documents to the regional passport office and would hear from it on Tuesday afternoon," Mirwaiz told rediff.com from his residence in Srinagar. Meanwhile, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Organisation Yasin Malik has decided travel to PoK alone as the government has not cleared the names of his associates. Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom party Shabhir Shah is expected to file his documents on Tuesday. " Hurriyat leaders submitted their documents only last night (Monday) and they would get clearance sometimes later in today," president of the People's Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti said on phone from Srinagar. Kashmir separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, leader of the hardline faction of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, does not want to travel to Pakistani Occupied Kashmir, or even Pakistan. Geelani, who is known for his pro-Pakistan stance, has turned down an invite from that country. "Why should I go to Pakistan?" he retorted when asked why he had chosen not to accompany other leaders of the Hurriyat Conference on the planned two-week bus trip to PoK. "I met [Pakistan President] General Pervez Musharraf in Delhi when he visited the Indian capital in April and told him about our views on Kashmir. I have asserted my stand to several top leaders of Pakistan, including the current prime minister, on many occasions. So what purpose would be achieved by going to Pakistan?" he said. Geelani has so far been maintaining that the Indian government had not allowed him to visit Pakistan. "I will go there at the time of my own choosing and not before," he said on phone from his residence in Srinagar. Terrorist groups in Pakistan have welcomed Geelani's decision. On being asked whether his decision was forced by the threat of militants, he said, "I am not afraid of guns. I am not under pressure from anyone." Meanwhile, the government has asked the Hurriyat Conference delegation led by Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and other leaders to carry their passports along with them in case they wanted to travel beyond PoK. Confusion over media coverage to Hurriyat's PoK visit Srinagar, June 1 (UNI) Confusion prevailed among mediapersons here over the coverage of the visit of Hurriyat and other separatist leaders to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus tomorrow. The Jammu and Kashmir government and the Army have not made any arrangements for the media this time as had been done when the historic cross-border bus service was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 7. The state government and Army officials, when contacted, said they have not made any arrangements for the media to cover the event. Rumours were rife here that the Hurriyat Conference led by Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, had arranged 30 Tata Sumo jeeps for the mediapersons to cover their journey up to the Kaman Bridge, the last Indian military outpost. However, the Hurriyat leaders denied any such arrangement for the media. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chief Yasin Malik said that his workers were insisting on accompanying him to the Kaman Post from where they will enter PoK. He said the JKLF too has not made any arrangement for the media. The other problem faced by the mediapersons was if they would be allowed to go up to the ''Aman Setu (Peace Bridge)''. NEW DELHI, June 1: As senior Kashmiri resistance leaders prepared on Wednesday to travel to Muzaffarabad amid Indian squeamishness a lot of confusion was seen in their ranks. Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabbir Shah virtually ruled himself out from the landmark journey by insisting in Indian travel forms that his nationality was “Kashmiri” and that he was travelling to a place called “Azad Kashmir”. It seems miffed Indian officials refused to issue him a passport as also to a handful of his party men. Moreover, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman was evidently surprised to know that the remaining leaders would be making the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad journey not on the prescribed bus but by individual cars. Sources said Mr Shah and his men could have got away by mentioning Muzaffarabad as their destination and Srinagar as his place of departure. The two other leaders making the journey from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and thence to Islamabad and onward are Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq, who is leading what could be considered the main delegation of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference and Yasin Malik of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. Unlike Mr Shah and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the one who fell by the wayside even earlier, both Maulvi Umar and Mr Malik have travelled abroad with Indian passports in recent months. Obviously they did not have difficulty in signing the columns as Indian nationals regardless of their private thoughts on the issue. Mr Shah’s spokesman told Dawn from Srinagar that he was unlikely to travel to the huge welcome awaiting the delegation across from the Kaman Post on Thursday, unless the Indian government takes a more lenient view by Thursday morning. “The position of the government is that it is willing to consider request for travel by any Indian national to Muzaffarabad and other parts across the Line of Control (LoC) by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters. “If some Hurriyat leaders have been invited to travel to Islamabad, as reported, outside the provision of the above understanding, the onus for this lies with the Pakistani authorities,” he said. One Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s plans not to travel by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus but by his private vehicle, the spokesman said. The refusal by pro-Pakistan hardline Hurriyat leader S A S Geelani to accompany the other Hurriyat leaders on their maiden visit to Muzaffarabad on Thursday proves that he is not interested in resolving the Kashmir problem, Kashmir observers in Delhi feel. The observers wonder how can Geelani, who has been stoutly opposing the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, now take the bus to PoK. He has failed to comprehend the changed international scenario, they add. It is not for the first time that the hardline Hurriyat leader has sabotaged peace moves. When the Centre had invited Hurriyat leaders for talks, Geelani refused to be part of the delegation. He even refused to accept the advice of his Pakistani mentors to patch up with other Hurriyat leaders. Following differences in the Hurriyat conglomerate, Geelani floated his own party Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. He is quite upset with the current attitude of the Pakistan authorities led by President Pervez Musharraf. Though the visit of Hurriyat leaders is being termed as “once-in-a-life-time” opportunity and a new beginning towards resolving the Kashmir problem, Geelani has decided to stay back on the plea that his visit would be used as a rubber stamp to legitimise the formula that India and Pakistan, he claimed, have already agreed on resolve the Kashmir issue. The Hurriyat leaders are scheduled to meet local politicians and senior government functionaries in Muzaffarabad. Earlier, they were not allowed to go beyond PoK, but now the Centre has allowed them to go anywhere in Pakistan on the basis of passport only. Those Hurriyat leaders, who do not have passport, have already applied and would be given all travel documents immediately so that they could leave on Thursday for Muzaffarabad. Kashmiri separatist leaders today crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The moderate separatist leaders walked across the 'Aman Setu' (peace bridge) to a rousing welcome unlike the low-key affair on the Indian side where the government has reservations on their travelling beyond PoK. PoK Prime Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan received and garlanded the visitors amid tunes of Pakistani army band. A large number of school children dressed in their best and others representing political parties waved to welcome the visitors. Multi-coloured balloons and white pigeons were also released to mark the occasion. Kashmir dispute The visit is expected to boost initiatives by India and Pakistan to settle the Kashmir dispute. "We have been working for the people of Jammu and Kashmir and it will be our effort that during the course of this tour all decisions will be made in accordance with what the people want," said Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, Chairman, Hurriyat Conference. Yasin Malik, a former militant leader whose Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) is now a political party, is also part of the delegation. Malik, who once travelled the same route transporting guns said although his mission was the same - to resolve the Kashmir problem - he now travels in peace. "I have crossed the border 8 times and the bridge three times. The difference is that I had friends who are martyrs, with me then. When we used to come here every house in Kashmir was our base camp," said Malik. However, militant groups in PoK have refused to meet the Hurriyat leaders, saying the visit has no point since many of the hardliners have refused to come. Bridging the divide The Hurriyat delegation will travel to Islamabad on June 4 for talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shauqat Aziz. Before leaving for the journey, former chairman of the Hurriyat Conference Abdul Ghani Bhatt said, "We are taking love across the border." "We want the Hurriyat delegation to bridge the gap between India and Pakistan," he added. Bhat said that Hurriyat would like to resume the dialogue process with the Centre upon their return from Pakistan. Shah left out The separatist amalgam also sought to downplay the refusal of travel documents to Shabir Ahmed Shah and said it will not "weaken" their "mission". "We don't think in terms of weakening the delegation by non-issuance of travel documents to some people. We don't talk in numbers, we talk ideas," Bhatt told reporters. Shah's Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party will be represented by senior leader Mohammed Abdullah Tari in the delegation travelling to PoK. Authorities had on Wednesday refused travel documents to the separatist leader raising objection to his mentioning 'Kashmiri' as his nationality instead of 'Indian' in the entry permit form for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus. (With PTI inputs) The moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference today included the names of four more members of its general council in its delegation to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir raising its strength to nine, Hurriyat sources said today. "The names of four leaders of the general council have been cleared by Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and they have been asked to file their papers for the proposed visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on June 2," the sources said. These leaders included Chairman of the breakaway faction of Democratic Freedom Party Syed Saleem Geelani, Mohammad Yousuf Naqash of Islamic Political Party, Manan Bukhari of Republician Party and Mohammad Amin Qureshi of People's Political Conference, the sources said. Confirming the decision of the Hurriyat chairman, Geelani said he had submitted his papers and hoped to get clearance for the visit. "We have been asked to file the forms for the historic visit," he said. Leaders of eight constituents of the general council of Hurriyat had met on May 26 and expressed resentment on being excluded from the delegation. A day earlier, Umer Farooq had announced that he will lead a five-member delegation to PoK on June 2 with other members being Abdul Gani Bhat, Moulana Mohammad Abbas Ansari, Bilal Gani Lone (all executive council members) and Fazal Haq Qureshi of People's Political Front (general council). Separatist Hurriyat leaders from India have left for a landmark visit across the Line of Control (LOC) into the Pakistan administered sector. The delegation is led by Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq. Interestingly Hurriyat leaders are travelling in their own cars till Kaman Post from where they will board the bus. Militant groups in PoK have refused to meet Kashmiri separatists. They say that the visit has no point since many of the hardliners have refused to come. The Hurriyat leaders will be in Pakistan for a fortnight as the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus operates on a fortnightly basis. ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR: Ignoring India's reservations, Hurriyat leaders will travel to Islamabad from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on June 4 for talks with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other leaders. The Hurriyat leaders, led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, will arrive in PoK by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus on Friday. While in PoK, they will meet its President Gen (retd) Anwar Khan, Prime Minister Sikander Hayat and other political leaders, besides addressing its Assembly, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said on Wednesday. They will arrive in Islamabad on June 4 for talks with Musharraf, Aziz and other leaders, Jilani told the state-run PTV. According to Jilani, Pakistan considered the visit by Hurriyat leaders “very important” since Islamabad has been demanding the involvement of Kashmiri leaders in the current process to find a solution to the Kashmir issue. During their stay in Islamabad, the Hurriyat leaders will also meet the Kashmir committee of the parliamentarians and intellectuals. Besides Islamabad, they are expected to tour other places in Pakistan and will stay for nearly a fortnight as the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad operates on a fortnightly basis. Jilani said all arrangements are complete to accord a warm welcome to the delegation when they arrive in PoK. “The Hurriyat leaders will be given a warm welcome when they arrive by the bus tomorrow (Thursday).” In Srinagar on Wednesday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told this website’s newspaper that the Hurriyat will go in a procession right up to Uri, the last township before the LoC. “Our supporters are not listening. They are upbeat. They want to hold separate functions at Awami Action Committee headquarters and Hurriyat office,” he said. Mirwaiz's aide Vakil said at least 400 vehicles will escort the Hurriyat leaders. “We will travel up to the last point in our private vehicles,” he said. “Two AAC leaders, Shahidul Islam and Nazir Ahmad Ronga, are already in Pakistan to facilitate our visit. They are doing the groundwork for our meeting in Islamabad,” he said. However, JKLF chairman Yasin Malik decided not to “celebrate” the event. “We will celebrate only when something positive comes out of the trip,” said Malik. “We will leave silently, without making any noise.” Moderate Muslim separatists in Jammu and Kashmir are to travel to Pakistan on Thursday for talks about the disputed region's future, defying fierce opposition from hardliners and rebels. The 11 separatists will travel aboard a bus service launched two months ago that crosses the Line of Control -- the de facto border dividing Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. "Going to Pakistan will be a big step toward resolving the Kashmir issue," said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the region's top Muslim cleric and head of the moderate wing of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference separatist alliance. Security will be on high alert for Thursday's bus run, the fourth so far since the start April 7 of the service opposed by some rebel groups who have threatened to turn the buses into "coffins". "We'll search the road for bobby traps and landmines," said a police official. The trip is part of a slow 18-month peace process between India and Pakistan aimed at ending the dispute over Muslim-majority Kashmir, spark of two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. The moderates will meet Pakistani political leaders and heads of rebel groups based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). "The meeting with militants will be at the top of our agenda. We also want to know the stand of the Pakistani people and politicians in getting the Kashmir issue settled," Farooq said. Separatists sources say the moderates will carry a message to terrorists that the "role of the gun is over" and urge a ceasefire in Kashmir where tens of thousands have died in insurgency-related violence. Pakistan last week invited the Hurriyat separatist alliance made up of two dozen political groups seeking Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan. Moderate separatists led by Farooq accepted the invitation, as did Yasin Malik, head of the pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, a Pakistani official told the agency on Tuesday. But at least one of the hardline members, angry over as Pakistan's refusal to hold out for direct three-way talks involving New Delhi, Islamabad and Kashmiris, rejected the invitation. "Pakistan's present leadership is deviating from the country's basic stance on Kashmir. We've decided not to go to show our unhappiness," said Syed Ali Geelani, the hardline faction head who declined the invitation. India had been reluctant to allow the separatist leaders to travel to Kashmir but after the Pakistani invitation said it would endorse the trip. "The visit has lost some significance as all the separatists aren't going," said Tahir Mohiudin, editor of leading Urdu weekly 'Chattan', meaning Rock. "But it's a big event as the separatists are being allowed to cross the divide for the first time." The bus service on which the separatist leaders will travel is seen by many as the biggest achievement of the peace process as it has reunited relatives divided by the Line of Control. But it has been opposed by some rebel groups and hardline separatists, who fear greater person-to-person contact will diminish momentum for their cause. The moderate separatists and Pakistan see the trip as a way to start so-called "triangular talks" in which they will discuss Kashmir's future separately with New Delhi and Islamabad. Their aim is to eventually hold trilateral talks in which all sides would discuss the region's future at the same table. New Delhi opposes trilateral talks, saying Kashmir issue should be resolved bilaterally by India and Pakistan. Some hardline Hurriyat groups are under pressure from members to board the bus, said Nayeem Khan, leader of the hardline National Front, which seeks Kashmir's merger with Pakistan. "Genuine grievances should be conveyed to Pakistan. Remaining silent will not help," he said. NEW DELHI: India had warned Pakistan that letting Hurriyat leaders travel from Muzzafarabad to Islamabad without valid international travel documents could have an adverse reaction here. It is as a result of this diplomatic interchange that the separatist leaders will be issued Indian passports before traveling to Pakistan by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus tomorrow. Sources here said the separatists, who take their orders from Islamabad, were clearly given the green signal on this from Pakistan. They will now travel to Pakistan as Indian citizens, overcoming a long-standing refusal to take travel documents from the Indian government. The MEA spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed that the regional passport office in Srinagar had received passport applications from members of the Hurriyat. Top-level sources have confirmed that they would be issued passports forthwith. While Mirwaiz Omer Farooq and Bilal Lone have passports, others like Bhat, Abbas Ansari and Fazal Haq Qureshi and Shabbir Shah have apparently filed for passports. The MEA once again reminded Pakistan that travel on the bus would be in line with the agreement made with Pakistan. "It is on this basis that individual applications from some of the APHC leaders have been processed and those who have been accepted by the Pakistani side, have been allowed to travel on the bus." CHAKOTHI: Separatist leaders from Kashmir were given a rousing welcome when they crossed the heavily militarised ceasefire line here on Thursday on a historic visit to the Pakistani zone of the disputed Himalayan region. The Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Sardar Sikandar Hayat, and other senior politicians hugged the leaders as they arrived in this town near the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir. A police band played national tunes while a crowd released pigeons and hundreds of multi-coloured balloons. The Indian Kashmir leaders walked across the Kaman Bridge on the Jhelum river, which forms part of the LoC, and then drove to Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered zone of Kashmir. The entire 58-kilometre (36-mile) route from Chakothi to Muzaffarabad was decorated with welcoming bunting and banners. The visit of nine moderate leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), the main separatist umbrella group in Kashmir, is their first to the Pakistani zone. Delegation member Bilal Gani Lone said he happy and excited to be in the Pakistan portion of Kashmir. "There is a hope and today's journey is the first step," he said. "Let us hope this first step brings peace and best hopes for the people of India, Pakistan and specially the people of Kashmir," he said. "The visit shows that both India and Pakistan have realised that involvement of Kashmiris is essential in resolving the dispute between the two countries," a senior Hurriyat leader Moulvi Abbas Ansari said. Clearing the decks for their visit to Pakistan, authorities here have asked the Hurriyat leaders to carry their passports with them for use as travel documents. "Besides filling up the permit forms for the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, we were also asked to fill passport forms," senior separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah told PTI after submitting the forms of his 12-member delegation at the Regional Passport Office here. He said he was told that the passports should be used as travel documents while entering Pakistan territory during their visit across the Line of Control. Chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq also confirmed that he has been asked to carry his passport during the trip on June two. The centre had raised objections to the visit of separatists to Pakistan as it would be in contravention of the agreement between India and Pakistan on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service which does not allow the passengers to venture beyond the boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir as existed in 1947. While five members of the moderate faction of Hurriyat would be travelling to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir on June two aboard the Karavan-e-Aman, JKLF chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik will be the sole representative of his party. The hardline faction of Hurriyat, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has declined the Pakistani invitation to visit that country. Just over 12 hours before the scheduled departure of an All Parties Hurriyat Conference delegation to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, confusion persisted on Wednesday on whether they would be allowed to travel to Islamabad to meet Pakistani leaders. While in Srinagar senior Hurriyat leader Moulvi Abbas Ansari said the delegation members would get their travel permits and passports shortly, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna said if the Hurriyat leaders travel beyond PoK, the onus for the visit will be on Pakistan. We are getting passports -- Moulvi Abbas Ansari While a travel permit allows a person to enter PoK, any travel beyond into Pakistan would require him/her to carry a passport. Sarna confirmed that some Hurriyat leaders have applied for passports and their requests are being processed. He, however, said he had no knowledge of how many passports were being processed. "The position of the government is that it is willing to consider request for travel by any Indian national to Muzaffarabad and other parts across the Line of Control by the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus," Sarna said. He said the Hurriyat leaders' requests for travel documents are being processed in accordance with the understanding reached between India and Pakistan which specifies that the travel on the basis of travel permits issued by the two sides would be limited to the territory of Jammu and Kashmir. "If some Hurriyat leaders have been invited to travel to Islamabad, as reported, outside the provision of the above understanding, the onus for this lies with the Pakistani authorities," he said. In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said the Hurriyat leaders should be allowed to travel to Pakistan. "We have no objection if they [the Hurriyat leaders] want to travel to Delhi and hold talks with the Indian leadership," he said and added, "for purposeful talks, you have to talk to all the parties concerned."