Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the first bus to travel next month from Indian Kashmir to the Pakistani sector of the Himalayan region to boost peace efforts, his spokesman said yesterday.

The nuclear rivals breathed new life into the sluggish peace process last month when they agreed to open bus links between the capitals of the Kashmir sectors under their respective control. The bus services will start on April 7, to the delight of Kashmiris on both sides of the heavily militarised Line of Control that divides the region.

?Prime Minister Singh will flag off the first bus from Srinagar. This was his personal initiative and the fact he is flagging it off shows how seriously he is taking the peace process?, Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the Prime Minister?s Office, told Reuters. ?By going to Srinagar, he is clearly associating himself with the bus initiative?, Baru added.

The bus will travel 170 km (106 miles) on the highway between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in the Pakistani sector. India has started issuing travel forms to meet a huge demand from Kashmiris desperate to meet relatives on the other side of the Line of Control. Islamabad is to issue forms later this week.

The two countries have strengthened diplomatic, commercial, sporting and transport links in the past 16 months but have made little headway over Kashmir, apart from agreement on the bus service.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since Independence from Britain, two over Kashmir, and New Delhi suspects that Islamabad is still aiding Muslim rebels fighting its rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India?s only Muslim-majority state. Islamabad denies it arms militants, but says it provides moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri ?freedom? struggle.