Friday, April 1 2005 10:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Terming the initiation of Muzzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service as a "positive step," US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker yesterday (Mar 31, 2005) suggested India and Pakistan take Kashmiris along with them while looking for a resolution of the Kashmir issue.

The two countries should "take Kashmiris along with them for the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute," he told a group of newspaper editors in Islamabad.

He said that the Muzzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service due to start on April 7 is a "positive step" in the Indo-Pak peace moves.

Crocker lauded President Pervez Musharraf saying that he is "taking Pakistan towards a real democracy".

"Media in Pakistan is free and there is no dictatorship in the country," private Geo television channel quoted him as saying.

Crocker observed that democracy did not mean just free and fair elections but the stability of democratic institutions.

He said that the US decision to sell F-16 aircraft to Pakistan would help maintain "balance of power" in the region.

The ambassador denied the announcement of F-16 jets had any link with Pakistan's plans to send centrifuges to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inspection to probe its links with the Iran's nuclear programme.