Pakistan govt violated Kashmir bus accord

Singh said Pakistan breached the pact earlier this month by allowing Kashmiri separatists to travel beyond Pakistan-administered Kashmir to Islamabad where they held talks with President Pervez Musharraf.

People who travel on the bus service which started April 7 can only visit the divided zones of Kashmir under the agreement between the nuclear-armed rivals that was seen as a major achievement of their slow-moving peace process.

Pakistan's decision to "invite them to visit Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan violated an understanding on the procedures reached between the two countries for running the bus service," Singh said.

He made the comments in a letter to former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee who criticised the government's policy on the separatists' visit.

"It would not be, therefore, correct to state that the authorities on our side (had) mishandled the visit of the Hurriyat," Singh said.

The separatists' trip came as part of the peace process begun 18 months ago by India and Pakistan to settle all disputes between them, including over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, the spark of two of their three wars.

The separatists, most of whom belonged to the separatist alliance, Hurriyat, said on their return in mid-June that they hoped their visit would help them become a formal part of the peace process between the South Asian neighbours.

On Monday, New Delhi rejected a demand by Hurriyat to be included in the dialogue process but said it could give its suggestions for solving the Kashmir issue.

"There is no question of involving Hurriyat in the India-Pakistan talks" but it can give its suggestions for settling the Kashmir issue, junior home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

Singh also rejected a proposal by Musharraf that the international community be made a "guarantor" of a resolution of the dispute over Kashmir.