India and Pakistan are praised by Straw

The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has praised India and Pakistan for their agreement to resume a bus service across the military line that divides Kashmir, and urged the longtime nuclear rivals to find a way to friendship.

The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has praised India and Pakistan for their agreement to resume a bus service across the military line that divides Kashmir, and urged the longtime nuclear rivals to find a way to friendship.

He said the decision to restart a bus service through the heavily militarised region would help "promote regional stability in south Asia".

"War and violence never give fruitful results," he told reporters during a visit to the north Indian city of Amritsar, where he met Sikh leaders and visited the Golden Temple, their holiest site.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan announced that the bus service across Kashmir would begin in April, the most substantial outcome yet from a year of peace talks.

On Wednesday, during a visit to Afghanistan, Straw announced a doubling of aid to combat that country's booming heroin trade. Mr Straw said that British aid per year would rise to £76.83m starting in April, from £38m now.