ISLAMABAD, March 29: Pakistan will finalize its strategy for the forthcoming talks with India on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service later this week, Dawn learnt through well-placed sources on Monday.

The first round of technical-level talks on the proposed bus service will start in Islamabad on April 8. "A inter-agency meeting has been convened by the foreign ministry on Friday to finalize the strategy," sources said.

The meeting, to be chaired by additional secretary South Asia, Mr Salman Bashir, will be attended by representatives of the ministry of communications and key security agencies.

"An overall strategy has already been prepared through inter-agency consultations and it will be firmed up at this meeting," sources said. A set of recommendations, based on inputs from relevant ministries and the AJK government, have been drawn up, these sources maintained.

While not divulging any details, the sources maintained that Pakistan would go into the talks with an open mind. In principle both Islamabad and New Delhi seem willing to start the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. However, a key issue to figure in the talks will be of travel documents that Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control would use.

India and Pakistan have divergent positions on this question. While Indian government advocates the use of passports and visas, Pakistan supports use of UN documents.

Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC have categorically stated that the proposal of using passports and visas is not acceptable to them. A third option that could be acceptable to all sides is the use of travel permits issued by the district administrations, sources said.

In the wake of tremendous goodwill generated by the recent peace initiatives, both Pakistani and Indian diplomats are hopeful that some mode acceptable to all sides could be worked out.

The talks on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road link are part of the series of confidence-building measures announced by Pakistan and India last year to normalize relations.

The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service talks were initially slated for March 29 but they had to be rescheduled for April on the request of the Indian government. Senior officials of the two communication ministries will lead the delegation-level talks here next month.