02 January 2004	Friday	09 Ziqa'ad 1424

SRINAGAR, Jan 1: Thousands of people gathered at a rally in Srinagar on Thursday urging Pakistan and India to open a key highway that links the capitals of Azad Kashmir and the occupiedstate.

Hours before the rally, organized by occupied Kashmir's ruling party, a suspected militant was killed in Srinagar when a bomb he was carrying on a bicycle exploded.

The highway connecting Srinagar and Muzaffarabad was closed after the two countries fought their first war in 1947-48. New Delhi has proposed reopening the road and launching a new bus service between the two capitals.

"Reopen Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, let brother meet his brother," more than 7,000 people shouted at the rally. Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road can bridge India and Pakistan," read a banner carried by a group of families whose relatives live in Azad Kashmir.

The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway runs through breathtaking scenery along the Jhelum river and snow-capped mountains. Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed called on militants fighting Indian rule to give up.

"When India and Pakistan are talking peace you cannot justify the presence of the gun... your sister, your mother, your children are waiting. Come home, give peace a chance," Mufti Sayeed said in a speech at the rally.

Police said bomb disposal squads defused two more bombs on the outskirts of Srinagar on Thursday. A large number of armed police guarded the rally. The bomb on the bicycle wounded seven civilians. "The man who was carrying the bomb was blown to pieces," a police spokesman said. -Reuters