Pakistan denies breach of understanding

Pakistan has not violated any agreement by allowing the Hurriyat leaders from Jammu and Kashmir to visit Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesperson Jalil Abbas Jilani told BBC.

He was reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion on Tuesday that Islamabad did a wrong by allowing the Hurriyat leaders to journey to Islamabad, where they met Pakistani leaders including President Pervez Musharraf.

Indian officials say passengers taking the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus should not travel beyond the Indian or Pakistani halves of Kashmir.

Manmohan Singh made the statement in responding to a letter from Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who raised the issue following the return of the Hurriyat delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.

Manmohan Singh said in a letter to Vajpayee that "Pakistan violated an understanding on these procedures that had been reached between India and Pakistan".

The Pakistani spokesman described the trip by the Hurriyat leaders as a breakthrough and said it had helped strengthen the peace process between India and Pakistan.