New Delhi, Nov. 30: The long-delayed discussion between India and Pakistan on starting a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad is scheduled to take off from December 7.

The bus service has a direct impact on the lives of Kashmiris and divided families, who are looking forward to a time when relatives will be just a bus journey away.

However, though India had been talking about the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad service even before the Agra summit, the two sides have not yet sat down for discussions. Delhi believes that Islamabad, while not rejecting the proposal, is lukewarm in its response.

The first round of discussions slated for April this year in Pakistan was postponed because Islamabad refused to issue the necessary travel papers to representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir government, who were part of the Indian delegation.

This time, with the discussions to be held in Delhi, the Pakistani team cannot prevent state government officials from being part of the delegation. The talks, however, will be held between the Indian and Pakistani governments, with the state officials being listeners.

India is keen on furthering people-to-people contact with Pakistan. The government?s decision to allow Pakistanis, especially children, to come to India for treatment was an attempt at developing such contact. But Islamabad, while agreeing to talk about the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, is hardly enthusiastic.

In an signed piece, which appeared in the Pakistan Times on November 25, Shirin Mazari, a journalist known to have excellent sources in government, had argued that the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service should be linked to a final resolution of the Kashmir problem.

Many in India see this as a signal that Islamabad is in no hurry to go through with the proposal.

When India?s then foreign minister Yashwant Sinha suggested the bus link in October last year, Pakistan?s foreign secretary Riaz Khokar was not enthusiastic. In fact, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had initially made this suggestion ahead of the Agra summit.

Pervez plea

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said in Brasilia he is hopeful all disputes with India, including over Kashmir, can be resolved through peace talks now underway.

?May I say we see a light at the end of the tunnel now that the process of rapprochement has started,? Musharraf said yesterday in a speech at a lunch with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.