Qayyum meets Azad; Both call for beginning trade

New Delhi, May 1 (UNI) In their first-ever meeting, Jammu Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and former Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) 'president' Sardar Qayyum Khan today favoured strengthening ties and beginning trade across the divide.

''We want to improve relations between Kashmir and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. We want to develop trade, tourism and culture, and both the sides are unanimous on improving and strengthening relations,'' Mr Azad said after the more than hour-long meeting here.

Mr Azad said he had urged Mr Khan to facilitate trade activities.

Both the leaders expressed satisfaction over the successful run of the cross-LoC bus service and hoped it could be further improved by removing bureaucratic wrangling for making it more ''passenger-friendly'' ''The verification process should be made more speedy so that the waiting period is decreased... The paper work for the travel is very extensive. That must be done away with so that people don't face problems,'' said Mr Khan, who had come here to attend the just concluded second Intra Jammu and Kashmir 'Heart-to-Heart' talks.

Mr Khan, who also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, said the bus service was essential for improving people-to-people contact across the LoC.

Both the leaders advocated exchange of MLAs and other parliamentarians to take the India-Pakistan peace process to a logical end within a set time frame.

UNI