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Lord lobbies for Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus

Shyam Bhatia
India Abroad Correspondent in London

A British-Pakistani member of the House of Lords is the author of proposals to start a bus service from Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, to Srinagar as one of the confidence-building measures to be discussed during the forthcoming New Delhi summit between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf.

Friends of Mirpur-born Lord Nazir Ahmed confirm that he has been lobbying with opinion-makers in Washington to support his version of bus diplomacy to facilitate a "soft border" as a substitute for the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir.

Ahmed, last seen in Boston on a bus with banners displaying the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, has long been associated with pro-Pakistani Kashmiri activists.

On numerous occasions he has also hosted PoK politicians during their trips to the United Kingdom.

Sources in Britain close to Ahmed say his bus proposal has won a sympathetic hearing so far from members of Washington think-tanks and some US congressmen, who are being enlisted by him to press the Indian and Pakistani governments to come up with some imaginative idea during next month's summit.

Ahmed's initiative comes on the eve of Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar's trip to Washington, where he will hold talks on Kashmir, nuclear weapons proliferation and economic assistance with Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Sattar, who arrived in London last Monday, has had meetings with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, International Development Secretary Clare Short and Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon.

A spokesman for the Commonwealth secretariat said, "The meeting was requested by Pakistan to discuss mutual concerns about Pakistan's membership of the Commonwealth and the restoration of democracy in the country."

Reliable secretariat sources said Sattar was told that Pakistan needed to announce a clear time frame for elections before the Commonwealth ministerial action group meets next September in New York.

Further delays to national and provincial assembly elections could lead to more sanctions against Pakistan when Commonwealth heads of government meet next October in Brisbane, Australia.

On Wednesday night, Sattar was the keynote speaker at a dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary on the UK-based Pakistan Society. He was due to leave on Thursday for the US and Canada.

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