Playing down India’s refusal of permission to Information Minister Sheikh Rashid to visit Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has said the decision would not affect the ongoing peace process between the two countries. The announcement came even as Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf said the Indo-Pak peace process was ‘‘proceeding well’’ and that his country sees ‘‘light at the end of the tunnel’’ on efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue. The Indian decision (to deny permission to Rashid) ‘‘will not derail the peace process”, foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani was quoted as saying today. India yesterday rejected Rashid’s request to travel by the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus on June 27 in the wake of allegations that he organised training camps for Kashmiri militants. The Pakistani President did not even refer to the issue. Leaving on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Musharraf said: ‘‘It is proceeding well. We have made progress. There is understanding and there is harmony between the leadership.There are good intentions on both sides to resolve the dispute peacefully.’’ ‘‘We are moving forward and flexibility is shown by both sides, which is a good omen. Therefore we see light at the end of the tunnel.’’ Hurriyat not representative: PoK chief ISLAMABAD: Days after according a warm reception to visiting Hurriyat Conference leaders, the ‘Prime Minister’ of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, Sardar Sikender Hayat Khan, has questioned the alliance’s representative character, saying that its decisions on Kashmir cannot be accepted in view of its divisions and limitations. ‘‘How can we accept any decision (on Kashmir) by those who live under compulsions, do not have unity among themselves and are not representative of all regions,’’ he said, referring to the Hurriyat Conference during a debate in the PoK Assembly on Friday. —PTI
