Pakistan hopes that political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir would be among the first travellers hopping on to a proposed bus service across the Line of Control.Less than two days before Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrives in New Delhi, Islamabad has begun to raise hopes for an early agreement on the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, expand its scope and load it with new political possibilities. Addressing a media conference here, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said decisions by the two government to let the leaders of one side of Jammu and Kashmir travel across to the other ‘‘would be a grand gesture’’ that could have a major impact on the situation in J&K and on Indo-Pak relations. Kasuri’s remarks have touched off speculation here on the prospects of senior leaders from the governments of J&K as well as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir travelling freely in the state for the first time in 57 years. Kasuri refused to be drawn into a discussion on what kind of political figures should be travelling on the initial bus services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. Islamabad, of course, has been pressing India to let the leaders of the Hurriyat travel to Pakistan. If the bus service is implemented there would, in theory, be no restriction on their travel to PoK. Nor for that matter on anyone else in the entire state of J&K. In his comments yesterday, Musharraf reiterated that the people of J&K should be involved, sooner or later, in the Indo-Pak peace process. While the preferred interlocutor for Pakistan is the Hurriyat, Musharraf apparently told a group of Indian journalists, including those from J&K, that he had an ‘‘open mind’’ on who else from Kashmir could be involved in that process. A ‘‘Hurriyat plus’’ strategy might open the propsect for an expanded engagement by New Delhi and Islamabad with the full spectrum of leaders from both sides of Jammu and Kashmir who would all be free travel across. Before the bus can be loaded with so much of political baggage, realists would want to pinch themselves hard and ask if New Delhi and Islamabad are ready for such a bus service. Kasuri was very hopeful. ‘‘From what I know, the bus service will start,’’ he said. India had proposed the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad last year. India and Pakistan could not implement the idea, given their differences over travel documents. Kasuri revealed that an Indo-Pak track two dialogue, Neemrana Process, had proposed a way to resolving this dispute. ‘‘Our attitude to the negotiations on the bus service will be positive,’’ Kasuri said. Musharraf and Kasuri have also hinted that there could be additional bus services across J&K. Last June, India had proposed a bus service between Jammu and Sialkot. Pakistan is said to be interested in similar arrangements between other towns across the divide in J&K. Apparently the initial political reservations in Pakistan about restoring physical connectivity across the divide in J&K are now over. There seems to a growing competitive pressures within PoK to open up many traditional land routes across J&K. Technical negotiations between India and Pakistan on the bus service are due early next month. But it will first need a political clearance. And that might come up for discussion in the meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday.
