The Hurriyat Conference on Wednesday welcomed the agreement between India and Pakistan to start the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.

The decision is a 'small yet significant step' towards the final settlement of the Kashmir issue, Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat told PTI in Srinagar [Images].

Bhat said with the agreement a breakthrough has been achieved in the peace process. "They will hopefully do the same with other issues as well," he said.

• Muzaffarabad bus service from April 7

"We hope that the two countries will come to grips with the situation and other ground realities and move positively and productively towards a resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the wishes and aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir [Images]," he said.

However, chairman of the hard-line HC faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who has all along opposed the bus service, dismissed the decision, saying, "It is not an alternative to the right to self-determination of the people of the state. 

"We have not given huge sacrifices for any bus service. For us it is a non-issue. Our struggle is for a resolution of the Kashmir issue and the right to self determination," he added.

• A historic step: PDF

Geelani said the 'latest move will not bring any relief to common masses in Jammu and Kashmir'.