The Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed that Pakistan information minister Sheikh Rashid applied for permission to travel to Srinagar [Images] and other parts of Kashmir on June 30th.

"We have received the application, which would be processed in due course," said a message posted on the MEA website.

Read about: Bus diplomacy

Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, a Kashmiri, had expressed his desire to travel to India on permit from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar.

He plans to come alone to meet his relatives, who live in different parts of the Valley.

Yasin Malik, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir [Images] Liberation Front, had said that Sheikh Rashid was instrumental in running terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir in the 1990s.

The government had expressed its reservations in giving permission to Rashid in view of his dubious background.

The list of the passengers was handed over in Salamabad in the Valley on Thursday afternoon to the Regional passport officials of Indian government.

Also read:
India may deny visa to Rashid