SRINAGAR, March 7: Kashmiris began queuing-up on Monday for travel permits and the first bus ride in almost six decades to the Pakistani side of the divided region , as Indian officials said the road was almost complete amid demining efforts on the final stretch of road.

The bus service, scheduled to start April 7, is the first tangible fruit of 14 months of dialogue between Pakistan and India. On Friday officials distributed about 150 permits to be lodged by applicants on Monday.

India and Pakistan agreed last month that Kashmiri residents would not need passports to cross the divided state by bus, instead permits which had been cleared by the police and civil administration, would be issued.

"I am the happiest man today," said 65-year-old Mohammed Abdullah after lodging his application at the office of the State Road Transport Corporation in the Indian Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.

He said he was eager to cross and meet his brother who lives in Azad Kashmir. Of the 150 applicants, 60 will be short-listed for the first two trips - the first on April 7 and the second a fortnight later - federal passport officer John Silshi said.

The others will have to wait for later bus trips. Police in Srinagar will verify all applicants and forward them to authorities in Azad Kashmir for further approval, he added.

A senior Indian Kashmir minister, meanwhile, said on Monday the rugged Himalayan road would be ready in time for the historical start of the service. The road was closed in 1947 after the first India-Pakistan war.

"The road is almost ready. Only the last three kilometers from this side are to be black-topped," held Kashmir's works minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir said. The minister who on Saturday travelled up to the Line of Control (LoC) said it had not been an easy task to make the road motorable. The route snakes through towering mountains and alongside a fast-flowing river.

Indian army spokesman Col R.K. Sen told AFP soldiers were busy demining the last 500 meters of the road. "The army has begun the process of demining the stretch close to the LoC to facilitate the timely opening of the highway," he said, adding the army was also setting-up a check-point on the LoC to process incoming passengers. Many areas along the LoC have been mined on both sides to prevent incursions by rebels. -AFP