NEW DELHI, Oct 24: An influential Kashmiri leader said on Friday that India’s proposal to start a bus service across the Line of Control would be highly welcome provided there was no requirement of visas or passport between the divided region.

“We heartily welcome the Indian proposal to start a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad,” Jammu and Kashmir’s spiritual leader Mirwaiz Maulvi Umar Farooq said in a statement faxed to Dawn in New Delhi.

“However, we would like to stress that there should be no constraints of visas or passports for the residents of the two sides since they are essentially one people tragically divided by history.” He said the demand was not political but a humanitarian one.

Following his fax statement from Srinagar, Maulvi Umar Farooq later said by phone that a proposal by New Delhi to also appoint Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani as its interlocutor with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference was already jolted on Friday.

He was referring to Mr Advani’s remarks on Friday at a public function where he said his talks with the APHC would be confined to discussions on greater administrative autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Advani ruled out any discussion that could lead to the region’s separation from India. He ruled out talks with Pakistan too, until alleged terrorism from across the borders was first stopped.

Maulvi Farooq said the APHC would meet again shortly to review the parameters of the proposed talks with Mr Advani but only after it has first discussed the matter with like-minded groups and individuals in Jammu and Kashmir.

He stressed that for talks to have meaning, they should address the basic issue of Kashmir and should endeavour to involve Pakistan as it was a party in the dispute without which there could be no scope of resolving the issue ever.