Grand celebrations: For Malik, birthday at Taj Mahal

NEW DEHLI:

Though Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Pakistan seems off the table for now, the Indian government has approved a special request made by Interior Minister Rehman Malik to spend his birthday at the Taj Mahal.

In an unexpected personal request, the interior minister had asked the Indian government to grant him the permission to spend his 61st birthday at the Taj Mahal along with his wife. The Indian government, responding to the request affirmatively, will host the minister from December 11 to December 13.

Malik’s earlier visit is assumed to have been called off because it came immediately after the hanging of Mumbai attacks gunman Ajmal Kasab. However, the reason given by the government was that the Indian Home Minister Kumar Shinde was too tied up in work.



Shinde, in a letter written to Malik, proposed the scheduled visit to start from December 11, which would give the interior minister time to spend his birthday on December 12 in Agra.

The interior ministers are expected to discuss how to bring into effect the visa agreement on either December 11 or 13.

Meanwhile, the Indian Prime Minister told President Asif Ali Zardari in a letter that, though he wanted to visit Pakistan, the current timings were not conducive enough.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2012.