Pakistani media on Friday hailed the commencement of the historic Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, official sources said.

They added that the smooth run of the inaugural bus would give an unambiguous message to the militants that there would be no bowing to terrorism.

The bus service 'is the first concrete manifestation of repeated declarations by leaders in India, Pakistan and Kashmir suggesting that they want the Line Of Control to become a line of peace', local daily Dawn said in an editorial.

The daily said 'it is to the credit of (Pakistan President) General Pervez Musharraf [Images] and (Indian Prime Minister) Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] that they cut through bureaucratic resistance and brushed aside administrative hurdles to enable the buses to run'.

"At the same time, such gestures cannot be a substitute for a determined political effort to tackle the Kashmir problem and other knotty issues that divide Pakistan and India," it said.

Another daily The News blasted the militants attempting to sabotage the service and praised the two governments for pushing ahead with it 'in the face of terrorism'.

The Dawn said it was important that despite all the threats, 'both countries should expand travel links between the two parts of Kashmir, which will go a long way in normalising Indo-Pak relations'.

It added that the appearance of Mehbooba Mufti, head of Jammu and Kashmir's [Images] ruling People's Democratic Party, on the peace bridge was a 'loud message to the hardliners that the peace process cannot be scuttled now'.

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