Abdul Samad looks wistfully at the highway snaking past pine forests in Kashmir, closed ever since India and Pakistan fought their first war over the territory more than half a century ago.

The 75-year-old?s hopes are up because the nuclear-armed rivals open talks today on Kashmir and could be on the verge of resuming bus services across the divided territory, which would be the single most important symbol that they are serious about resolving decades of hostility and bitterness. ?I dream of the day when I will take a bus and meet my brother on the other side,? said Samad, a resident of Uri, a town in Indian Kashmir.

Across the divide, 90-year-old Ghulam Hasan Shah, who used to drive the bus from the Pakistan city of Rawalpindi to Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, wants to make the journey again.

This is one of the most militarised frontiers in the world. A 15-year-old insurrection that has killed tens of thousands plagues Indian Kashmir and New Delhi has accused Pakistan of training guerrillas on its side of the territory and sending them across. Islamabad denies the charge.

So while there is tremendous pressure from Kashmiris to allow travel across the frontier, it will inevitably be subject to intensive checks. ?There is absolutely great public pressure on both sides for the start of this service,? said former Pakistan army general Talat Masood. ?It will be an excellent confidence building measure...they have to make their borders soft.?

The neighbours have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region since both gained freedom from Britain in 1947. The Muzzafarabad-Srinagar highway was the road down which Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir in 1947 and it has remained closed ever since.

Indian forces pushed the invaders back just across Uri, in the Pir Panjal range, and the ceasefire line which was drawn up when hostilities ended became the effective frontier. Kashmir was divided and tens of thousands of families were separated.

?A 15-year-old insurrection that has killed tens of thousands plagues Indian Kashmir and New Delhi has accused Pakistan of training guerrillas on its side of the territory and sending them across. Islamabad denies the charge.?

India wants passports and visas ? effectively recognising the ceasefire line as the border ? while Pakistan and most Kashmiris want a less formal process.

Local media said one option being considered was allowing people to travel on a simple permit signed by local officials on either side.

Kashmiris say New Delhi shouldn?t insist on passports for them to travel within their homeland. ?There should be no restrictions like passport because that is part of our motherland and one does not need a passport to visit your country,? said Nasarullah Wani, a businessman in Uri.

A huge green signboard in the town said Muzaffarabad was barely 70 km (43 miles) away. But to travel legally between the two means going down to Punjab, crossing the border at the one land transit point between the two nations there, and coming back north again.

?Opening of this road means opening new roads to peace, towards the resolution of Kashmir dispute. But the million dollar question is, will these two countries agree on this?? said Mohammad Sultan, a school teacher.

Shabbir Ahmed Abbasi, 37, who lives in Chakoti on the Pakistani side, said the village where he was born was barely three kilometres away on the Indian side but he couldn?t go there. ?I could see my village just across the line but I could not meet my relatives. We hope we can be reunited with them.?

Sheikh MUSHTAQ Zulfiqar ALI

The search for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has gone cold and there is no indication of his whereabouts, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told The Washington Post in an interview published on Sunday. Musharraf said Pakistani forces were still aggressively pursuing bin Laden, but that recent security operations and interrogation had determined only that he was still alive. ?He is alive, but more than that, where he is, no, it?ll be just a guess and it won?t have much basis,? Musharraf was quoted as saying in the interview.

Pressed about whether bin Laden?s trail had gone cold, Musharraf told the Post: ?Yes, if you mean we don?t know, from that point of view, we don?t know where he is.? In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Musharraf said he remains ?absolutely? committed to trying to find bin Laden, and added, ?We are operating against all terrorists.? Asked whether bin Laden might not even be in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where US experts have always said they expect him to be, but instead in Iran, Musharraf said: ?It would be just guessing at this point.? Musharraf met on Saturday with President Bush, who praised his ally?s efforts in the war on terrorism and the search for bin Laden, whose al Qaeda militant network carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. One of the most sensitive issues between the two countries is the unsuccessful three-year hunt along the Afghan-Pakistan border. ?The president has been a determined leader to bring to justice not only people like Osama bin Laden, but to bring to justice those who would inflict harm and pain on his own people,? Bush said after their meeting in the Oval Office.

Musharraf told the Post the US-led coalition did not have enough troops in Afghanistan, which had left ?voids.? He said the United States and its allies needed to speed the training and expansion of the new Afghan army. He also denied reports Pakistani troops were withdrawing from the South Waziristan border region, which is considered a possible hiding place for bin Laden.