Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Friday said the government did not organise the visit of former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik to Jammu and Kashmir last month, ANI reported.

The minister told the Rajya Sabha that Bondevik was on a private visit to the country at the invitation of Bengaluru-based Art of Living International Centre. “He reportedly visited Jammu and Kashmir on November 23 and met representatives of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jammu and Kashmir Youth Development Forum, All Party Hurriyat Conference,” Swaraj said. “The government of India was not involved in organising the visit and meetings.”

Bondevik, currently the president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights, met separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on November 23. Two days later, he held talks with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s President Sardar Masood Khan in Muzaffarabad. Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had asked Swaraj and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to explain Bondevik’s visit to both sides of the Line of Control.

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah had also asked the government to clarify the purpose of Bondevik’s visit, claiming he could not have visited separatist leaders without the Centre’s knowledge.

Swaraj emphasised that there was no scope for any third party to get involved in the Kashmir dispute. “There is no change in the government’s consistent and principled position that under the Simla Agreement [1972] as as reiterated in the Lahore Declaration [1999], both India and Pakistan are committed to address all outstanding issues bilaterally,” she added.