Delhi8217;s Pak bus dream punctured

Also, the Congress Government was planning to take along other Delhi cabinet ministers, senior Congressmen and some media persons. The Delhi Government has been facing hurdles for its bus from the beginning. 8220;We could not even get the visa forms cleared by the Centre,8221; said a senior official in the secretariat.

On a day packed with meetings between the hassledofficials of Delhi Government and those of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Pakistan High Commission, the Delhi Government was told that the second bus cannot enter Pakistan on November 20 for lack of clearance from the Pakistani officials.

A disappointed Congress interprets it as a political move of the BJP so as to take the credit for the event. Says the Delhi Transport Minister Hashmi: 8220;The Centre never seems to have informed the High Commission that there would be another bus along with the PM8217;s vehicle. Naturally, the Pakistanis did not give us clearance.8221; He claims that the Prime Minister8217;s Office never intimated the Pakistan High Commission about the second bus. 8220;We received 40 applications, some of them from within the Government and some of them very important citizens of the Capital who were very enthusiastic about the trip,8221; he said. He, however, added that the Government has not given up and the negotiations are on.

But there were some senior Congressmen, who were feeling nostalgicabout the trip to the land they left behind during Partition. 8220;I am deeply disappointed as it was a great chance to participate in a process of diplomacy which might change the course of history of both the countries,8221; says a former president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee.

8220;If we cannot find enough goodwill among ourselves to accommodate representatives from across the country, then what kind of people-to-people is this?8221; says a bureaucrat from the Delhi Vidyut Board who was meant to be on the bus.