February 20, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 2, 1428

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MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 19: A European Parliament member here on Monday called for increased frequency of trans-Kashmir travelling for the benefit of divided Kashmiris.

Mr Richard Howitt, spokesperson for the British Labour Party in the European Parliament on foreign affairs, appeared to be touched by the plight of Kashmiris after a visit to the LoC in the Chakothi sector on Sunday on the first day of his visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

"I looked the Indian troops with binoculars and it will take me another five days perhaps to get to the other side of the LoC to look with binoculars back at the Pakistani troops although I could have crossed the bridge (marking the LoC) within 20 minutes," said Mr Howitt who will be flying to India on Wednesday.

"It's a very meaningful experience for me to understand and take back the division of Kashmir," he told Dawn.

Mr Howitt said he would anxiously plead the leaders on both sides to work for prospects of increasing the possibility of trans-LoC travelling and trade. "A bus travelling across the LoC after 15 days is a joke," he said, adding Shuakat Aziz had given him strong indications of Islamabad's support to increase the frequency of travel across the LoC.