Kashmir Bus Service: President, PM flay Sabotage Attempts 
By M D Malik - Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Chief

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have strongly condemned attempts by vested interests to sabotage Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Thursday.

Giving a statement on behalf of the President and the Prime Minister at a press conference here, Rashid said: "President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have condemned in the strongest terms the attempts by vested interests to sabotage and create obstacles in the way of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Bus Service launched Thursday.

"They have asserted that no-one will be allowed to come between the people living on either side of the Line of Control [LoC]".

"The President and the Prime Minister stated that the decision with regard to the initiation of the bus service was taken in response to popular demand of the Kashmiri people after extensive deliberations and consultations with the Kashmiri leadership on both sides of the LoC."

"The bus service is meant to facilitate the divided families in AJK and IHK as well as people-to-people contact and is a step forwards alleviating the sufferings of the divided families.

"The President and the Prime Minister have urged all concerned to work earnestly towards an early and permanent resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute."●

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