Pugwash had initially planned to hold the conference on April 21-24 at Kochi. However, this clashed with the PM’s third roundtable conference on Jammu & Kashmir. So Pugwash was requested to find another date. This led to Pugwash rescheduling the conference for June 2 in Mumbai.

When asked why visas were not given to Pak participants, all that an MEA spokesman told The Indian Express: “We told Pugwash we would not be in a position to issue visas at this time.”

While a section of the government is of the view that international bodies must not be allowed to organise conferences on Kashmir in India as it may open the floodgates for a range of human rights organisations, sources said, the Pugwash Kashmir initiative had the support of the PMO and former NSA J N Dixit when it held its first conference in Kathmandu on December 11-14, 2004. Hurriyat leaders were allowed to participate and so did Satinder Lambah, currently PM’s Special Envoy on Pakistan.

The last Pugwash conference on Kashmir was held in Islamabad on March 10-12 last year. Here again, a cross-section of Kashmiri leaders including the Hurriyat, participated. But with objections from New Delhi on holding such a conference here, sources said, Pugwash may even have to consider shifting this meeting out of the country.