Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has given his official airplane to Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan to attend the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir being held in Kazakhstan after briefly stopping at Benazir Bhutto International Airport on the instruction of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Atiq was stopped at the airport on Tuesday prior to his departure for the 38th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC Member States to be held from June 28-30, 2011 in Astana, the capital city of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir will also meet and discuss the issue.
"Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the embassy of Pakistan in Kazakhstan to make all arrangements for Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan, Prime Minister of AJ&K to attend the OIC Foreign Ministers Conference as well for the remaining two days", said a news release of the PM House. The Ambassador of Pakistan has been asked to arrange his meetings with the concerned Foreign Ministers, the statement added.
According to PM House, the Prime Minister has given his official airplane to the Prime Minister of AJ&K Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan to attend the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir. Earlier, the AJK Prime Minister told media that he was informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need not to travel to the summit. Atiq further said that it was necessary for him to attend the summit because he was specially invited by the OIC Secretary General and would be representing the Kashmiri people in the Contact Group. However, Foreign Office could not be contacted for comments.