If granted permission, he would be travelling by the June 15 bus along with the visiting Kashmiri separatist leaders, who are scheduled to return the same day after their visit to Pakistan.
Three militants and a policeman were killed in a fierce gun-fight in the Qamarwari locality of Srinagar on Monday afternoon.Motorcycle borne militants opened indiscriminate fire at a naakabandi, after being intercepted on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad highway, just six kms from the city centre Lal Chowk on Monday afternoon, said a police officer."A policeman died on the spot while the other cops manning the naaka returned the fire, killing all three militants," he said.
A village sarpanch was gunned down by unidentified militants in north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Monday evening. Militants shot from a close range at Ghulam Ahmad Yatoo, sarpanch of Palhallan village located on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, said a senior police official.
Police said a powerful Improvised Explosive Device concealed in a handcart was triggered off by militants when a paramilitary Border Security Force vehicle neared it on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad road in Baramulla town.
It was an emotional moment for the people of Kashmir when the PM flagged off the bus along with Gandhi.
The IEDs, weighing 70 kg and 60 kg and kept in polythene bags on the roadside, were detected by BSF's 55 Battalion's road opening party at Palhalan, 30 km from Srinagar.
United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will join Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 7 in Kashmir when he flags off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.
Four persons Thursday travelled to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad peace caravan, which brought back 12 passengers on the second trip since resumption of the bus service after the October 8 quake.
"Only 24 tickets have been sold so far. We are hopeful that the others will also turn up," an official of the State Road Transport Corporation, which is running the service, said.
Preliminary investigations suggested the militants had managed to lay their hands on the list in PoK and circulated it among news organisations in Srinagar to create fear among people.
Two youth were critically injured on Sunday as mobs defied curfew and attacked the home of the state education minister in south Kashmir Anantnag district. Meanwhile 34-year old Mohammad Ashraf Mir who was critically wounded in police firing in Palhallan town on the Srinagar Muzaffarabad road on September 6 succumbed to injuries in the Soura medical institute this afternoon.
Security forces failed to quell the protests by using teargas and baton charges, and finally resorted to firing.
Meanwhile, as many as 41 Indian passengers are still missing in quake-ravaged PoK.
Some measures such as visa liberalisation and free medical treatment of Pakistani children had been implemented unilaterally by India.
Two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed in a militant strike in north Kashmir's Pattan town on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway on Wednesday morning.
Curfew was imposed in north Kashmir's Baramulla town following large violence that left one dead and ten others wounded two of them with gunshot wounds. The town on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road has been on the boil for the past three days following the arrest of some youths by the police, who had participated in recent protests.
At the two-day talks officials from both sides will discuss technical details and modalities.
Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
Jilani said Pakistan had not received any "official communication" from the Indian side in this context and described the visit of the Hurriyat delegation as "a positive development".\n\n
Keen to take the peace process with Pakistan forward, India is expected to press for launch of more bus services across the Line of Control. India will also demand the early operationalisation of the truck service when the two sides resume the composite dialogue in Islamabad on Tuesday. The Foreign Secretaries will meet on Tuesday to set the agenda for talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee & his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
"With a view to further consolidate the confidence building initiatives already taken, it has been planned to liberalise the entry permit system for cross-LoC travel by bringing in features like triple entry permits valid for one year and completion of the verification process within six weeks," Home Minister Shivraj Patil said.
India and Pakistan propose to start the rail link between Khokhrapar and Munnabao connecting Sindh and Rajasthan from October 2, 2005, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh announced on Thursday.
In the run up to the beginning of trade between India and Pakistan through the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road, the Jammu and Kashmir government will construct a permanent truck terminal in Uri sector with all modern facilities.
The complete 172-km-long Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road will be operational for the movement of cross-border bus, launched on April 7 this year, in a couple of days.
Early restoration will not only restart the bus service but facilitate relief to border villages.
During the talks, the Pakistani side complained that it has not benefitted from the Most Favoured Nation status granted to it by New Delhi, as the Indian tariff and non-tariff barriers are not helping in enhancing trade links.
Eight passengers from Rajouri and four from Poonch were shifted to a hotel in Jammu, where multi-tier security has been activated, the sources added.
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