Indian officials say a highway linking the Indian and Pakistani portions of Kashmir will be ready in time for next month's historical opening of the bus service across the military Line-of-Control.
The officials say hundreds of Indian army engineers and workers are repairing the dilapidated Himalayan road and clearing it of land mines to meet the April seventh deadline. The 170-kilometer bus route will link the capitals of the Indian and Pakistani Kashmirs -- Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. Bus passengers will be given special entry passes to travel across the Line-of-Control.
The historic agreement was reached during a meeting in Islamabad last month between Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri.