No official word on Pakistan visa denial: PDP leader

Srinagar, Feb 19 (IANS) PDP spokesman Naeem Akhtar, who was to visit Pakistan Feb 25, Thursday clarified he did not know the status of his visa application after a media report said he had been denied one.

The spokesman of the regional Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir said he has not received any official communication on the subject.

"I want to clarify that it was an invitation extended by the Jinnah Institute through the Centre for Development and Resolution (CDR) headed by Sushoba Bharve. It was planned we should go to Pakistan Feb 25," Akhtar told IANS in Jammu.

However, a media report claimed Akhtar had been a denied a visa.

"I have also read in the newspaper about this visa denial, but I have not received anything officially. The visa issue was being hand led by the organizers," he said.

He refused to react on the media report. "I will react only when I get an official confirmation," he added.

There has been lot of flutter and speculation in the state over the report.

The PDP is presently engaged in negotiations with the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form an alliance government in India's only Muslim majority state.

The PDP has 28 and the BJP 25 seats in the 87-member state legislative assembly. A simple majority of 44 is needed to form government in Jammu and Kashmir which is presently under the governor's rule.