ISLAMABAD, 1 December 2003 — The foreign office spokesman welcomed Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s statement that he will meet everyone in Pakistan during his visit to Islamabad for the SAARC summit.

“It is good news,” said the foreign office spokesman Masood Khan adding that the talks between the two countries should start. “We know the difference between meetings and negotiations. However the meetings could lead to negotiations,” he said.

He described as a “major development” this week’s agreement between India and Pakistan to observe a cease-fire along the Line of Control (LOC) dividing the disputed Kashmir state between the countries.

This is the first step and Pakistan and India should start composite and result-oriented talks so that various issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, could be settled, he said.

Truce Rekindles Hope of Road Opening Between Kashmir Zones

For Suliaman Shah, 72, traveling to the Pakistani-zone of Kashmir from the Indian border town of Uri in a bus has been a long-cherished dream.

“Before I die I want to travel in a bus to Muzaffarabad from here to see my relatives,” Shah told AFP, referring to the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Uri is situated close to the Line of Control (LOC) — the de facto border that splits Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Before the division of Kashmir in 1947, the town served as an important stopping point along the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road.

The truce between India and Pakistan on their disputed and undisputed borders over Kashmir, which went into effect at midnight Tuesday, has rekindled hopes of the road being reopened.

India has recently proposed a bus service from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad. Islamabad insists that the check points be manned by UN officials and that because Kashmir is disputed, travel documents also be procured from the UN.

If such a bus service is started, it will benefit thousands of Kashmiris who have to use long, roundabout routes to reach relatives on the other side of the disputed Himalayan region.

“If the truce holds, my dream will definitely come true,” said Shah.