World>Terrorism & Security
posted February 16, 2005, updated 12:00 p.m.

Just the ticket for India and Pakistan

Longtime rivals reopen key bus route, and plan new talks to prevent nuclear 'misunderstandings.'

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

After a long dry spell that had regional experts worried about continued peace talks between India and Pakistan, Reuters reports that Wednesday foreign ministers from both countries announced a series of initiatives that show the rivals are "keen to keep the thaw in relations going, having almost gone to war for a fourth time just three years ago."

The main announcement, which came during the visit of Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh to Islamabad, was the restoration of a bus service in the contested region of Jammu and Kashmir. This service is actually the reopening of a route that has been closed since India and Pakistan separated in 1947. The BBC calls the agreement " hugely significant," and points out that both sides had to make major concessions for it to happen.


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India has apparently dropped its demand that passengers on the bus service carry passports. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said travel would be granted by an "entry permit system" - rather than a passport - once the identities of travellers are verified. In agreeing to the service, Pakistan could be seen to be toning down its constant refrain that all of Kashmir is "disputed territory".

The Indian news website Sify.com reports the two sides also agreed to start discussions on " reduction in risk of nuclear accidents or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons and preventing incidents at sea."

CNN reports that India said it would consider joining a "megaproject" to deliver gas to Pakistan via fields in Iran and Central Asia.

'We have come a long way over the past year or so. I'm convinced that cooperation between our two countries is not just a desire and an objective, it is in today's context, an imperative," AP quoted Mr. Singh as saying.
"The people of both countries clearly desire it."

Not everyone was happy about the announcement. The Hindustan Times reports that nationalist militant groups have said that Wednesday's agreement will " have no effect" on their struggle to drive India out of disputed Jammu and Kashmir province and return it to Pakistan.

The Indian website ChennaiOnline reported that people who want to use the new bus service to travel across the "Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir" can get application forms from "designated authorities in Srinagar [in Indian-administered Kasmir] and Muzaffarabad [in Pakistan]."

Although the two sides are not close to resolving their dispute about ownership of the province, The Scotsman reports that resumption of bus service will be a confidence building measure and a " boost to peace talks that began early last year.

Reuters reports that Kashmiris on both sides of the "Line of Control" are already jubilant about the announcement.

'It is a dream come true,' said Deen Mohammad, an university student in Srinagar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir. 'The bus will reunite thousands of families. Something great is happening to blood-soaked Kashmir after a pretty long time.'

Another Indian news website NewKerala.com reports the two sides also agreed to start bus services between Amritsar and Lahore and create " special services to religious places" such as the Pakistan birthplace of Sikh Guru Nanak. There are also plans to open a second rail link in the region in October of 2005.

Resolution of other key issues, such as water rights, in the region remain a challenge. Last month, Islamabad said it would protest to the World Bank plans to build a dam by India in the section of the region it controls. And China's news agency Xinhuanet.com reports that one person was killed and seven others injured Wednesday in a grenade attack in the Doda district of Indian-administered Kashmir.