Tuesday, October 11 2005 20:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Oct 11, 2005) said he will take up with the Telecommunication Department the issue of restoration of phone links between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

"I see merit in it (restoration of telephone links). I will take up the matter with the Department of Telecommunication when I go back," he said replying to a query at a press conference here.

Humanitarian considerations should take precedence and predominate whereas political and other aspects should be subservient, he said.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Chairman of moderate faction of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq have demanded restoration of phone links across the Line of Control on humanitarian grounds.

Sayeed said, "I don't see any reason why phone links cannot be restored. The phone calls from across the border are received here whereas people here are unable to make the phone calls there."

Mirwaiz had earlier expressed concern that people of the state were able to make phone calls across the world but unable to call their relatives across the LoC.