The Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday welcomed the agreement between India and Pakistan to start the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.
The decision is a 'small yet significant step' towards the final settlement of the Kashmir issue, Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat told PTI in Srinagar.
Bhat said with the agreement a breakthrough has been achieved in the peace process. "They will hopefully do the same with other issues as well," he said.
"We hope that the two countries will come to grips with the situation and other ground realities and move positively and productively towards a resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
However, chairman of the hard-line HC faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has all along opposed the bus service, dismissed the decision, saying, "It is not an alternative to the right to self-determination of the people of the state.
"We have not given huge sacrifices for any bus service. For us it is a non-issue. Our struggle is for a resolution of the Kashmir issue and the right to self determination," he added.
Geelani said the 'latest move will not bring any relief to common masses in Jammu and Kashmir'.
