27.11.18

Bondevik’s Mission Kashmir

Former Norwegian prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik has become the new player to embark on a ‘Mission Kashmir’ to break the ice on the Kashmir tangle.

After meeting Joint Resistance Leadership including Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Bondevik visited Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and met its president Masood Khan. This sent the political spectrum in a tizzy over Bondevik’s mission.

“What are the Norwegians up to in Kashmir? Would either Sushma Swarajji or Dovalji care to put the visit of the former Norwegian PM to both sides of the divided state in the correct context or do we have to rely on rumours & conjecture?,” tweeted Omar Abdullah, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice-president.

On November 23, Bondevik met Geelani and Mirwaiz at Hyderpora residence of Hurriyat hawk while JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik couldn’t attend the meeting as he was under detention.

What added a curious dimension to the whole saga was that the delegation of former Norweigian prime minister had also the representative of the Art of Living.

Later Bondevik flew to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, where he met its president Masood Khan.

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