ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shaikh Rashid Ahmed said on Sunday that the present government had successfully projected the Kashmir issue and declared that the government would never compromise on this vital issue.

Speaking at a seminar entitled "Indo-Pakistan relations and Kashmir issue" organized by a local newspaper he said the present government had seriously raised the issue of Kashmir on international level.

He said that keeping in view requirements of electronic media, the government had established a TV channel in the AJK which would start working from Feb 5 this year.

The information minister said that President Pervez Musharraf would inaugurate the Azad Jammu and Kashmir TV channel. He added that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan would address the joint session of AJK parliament on Feb 5.

He said if Indo-Pakistan talks did not prove to be fruitful this time, Pakistan should not be blamed for the failure of these talks. He said the Kashmiri leadership would not be ignored when the talks on the Kashmir issue proceeded further.

The information minister clarified that the Line of Control would not be accepted as the border after initiating the bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. He maintained that the bus service would open business opportunities for Kashmiri products and bring prosperity to the valley, he added.

AL QAEDA SUSPECT: About Al Qaeda activities, the information minister said that a leading al-Qaeda member had been confirmed as one of 8 terror suspects killed in an army operation in tribal area in October. He told AFP the identification of Abdur Rehman Khadar, a Canadian-born Egyptian, was established after DNA testing.-AFP/APP