Islamabad: Pakistan today (Oct 25, 2004) termed as "discriminatory" and "not in sync with peace process" the reported decision of Jammu and Kashmir officials to issue passports with explicit instructions that it was not valid for travel to that country and asked India to look into it.

"This step is blatantly discriminatory, exclusionary and will not be helpful. It is not in sync with the spirit of the dialogue process and the CBMs (Confidence Building Measures) initiated by the two countries," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told reporters in Islamabad. He said the move sends a wrong signal to the people of Kashmir, particularly to the youth. "We hope that India would review this decision."

Khan said the reported decision by Indian officials ahead of the forthcoming expert level talks between the two countries would affect the spirit of the dialogue process.

"What we want is more interaction between people of India and Pakistan and Kashmiris on both sides. Such obstruction would create misunderstanding and would effect the spirit of the talks process that we have started," the spokesman said.

Asked whether Islamabad would take up the issue with New Delhi, Khan said the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries are to meet in December, but the issue could be raised with Indian officials in meetings scheduled to be held before December.

"Before that we shall have several occasions. There is a meeting to run the Srinagar-Muzafarabad bus service. We could discuss it. At the moment this is something decided by India. Hope they would review this decision," he said.