LAHORE, July 25: Indian authorities have assured JUI-F amir Maulana Fazlur Rehman that air links between Pakistan and India would be restored in the near future.

According to sources close to the Maulana, India was more interested in settling the issue of overflights before restoring air links, ruptured some 19 months back. However, the JUI leader insisted that flights between the two countries should be resumed first.

This viewpoint was accepted after mutual discussions.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman paid a nine-day visit to India at the head of a four-member delegation at the invitation of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind during which he met Prime Minister Vajpayee, opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and leaders of many other parties. The delegation returned to Pakistan on Thursday.

Pakistan has formally proposed resumption of the Samjhota Express, which was also suspended as tension between the two nuclear rivals had mounted last year. The matter is being considered by India.

The JUI sources say in the days and weeks to come, India would also relax issuance of visas.

The delegation also gathered the impression that Prime Minister Vajpayee would be willing to meet his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the Saarc summit, due to be held in Islamabad in January.

About the Kashmir issue, the sources said, India told the JUI delegation that it would not agree to a plebiscite on religious lines. A vote on a Hindu-Muslim basis would create many problems for India and Muslims in the country, the Maulana was told.

He was asked by Indian authorities if he had any formula for the solution of the Kashmir dispute. The JUI leader answered in the negative, saying the matter could be resolved through bilateral talks, keeping in view the relevant UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

The sources said that he had told the Indian leaders that Pakistan could not agree to accepting the Line of Control as the international border.

About the idea of re-union of Pakistan and India, the sources said it had been moved by a Muslim journalist which the JUI chief had vehemently rejected. The Maulana, according to the sources, said Pakistan and India were sovereign countries and they should remain so without thinking of any reunion or confederation.