Bal Thackeray opposes Anna Hazare's plan to visit Pakistan

Alleging that Pakistanis were responsible for shedding the blood of innocents in India, Shiv Sena today reiterated its strong opposition to social activist Anna Hazare's plans to visit Pakistan in connection with anti-corruption movement.

"Be it Anna or anyone else, they should first speak to kin of those killed in the Mumbai and Delhi blasts, before annointing themselves Nishan-e-Pakistan (Pakistan's highest civilian award)," Sena chief Bal Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna.

"Whether Anna goes to Pakistan or not is another matter, but it would have been better had he given a thought to the country's sentiments on the issue," the editorial said.

While speaking to a two-member delegation from Pakistan at his native village Ralegan Siddhi recently, Hazare had said he would like to go to Pakistan if "my visit is going to help the anti-corruption movement there".

The delegation, comprising Justice Nasir Aslam Jahid, a former judge of Pakistan's Supreme Court, and Karamat Ali, a well-known peace activist, had extended an invitation to Hazare to visit the neighbouring country.

The success of Hazare's anti-corruption movement had boosted the morale of the activists in Pakistan and people of Pakistan wanted Hazare to visit the country, Ali had said.