Omar Abdullah, president of the National Conference, has said that cancellation of the Srinagar-Muzaffarbad bus service would give a moral victory to the terrorist outfits that have been threatening to disrupt the service between Uri and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

He was commenting on the terrorist attack on the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar [Images] on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking to rediff.com from his residence in Srinagar, he said he would most certainly be there when the bus is flagged off by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] on Thursday.

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"This would have been a golden opportunity for me to take on Mufti Sayeed government and criticise it. But I think we must rise above the party lines and welcome the opening of the Srinagar and Muzaffarbad route that would unite the Kashmiri people on either side of the Line of Control. We should send a strong signal to the terrorists that we are not going to bow down to their dictates and we would not deny an opportunity to the people of Kashmir to reunite with their near and dear ones across the LoC," he said.

He regretted that the Pakistan government did not permit him to travel by the first bus.