About a dozen journalists from Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi were part of the Indian media group that was for the first time allowed to visit Gilgit among other places.

"All I can say is many of our misperceptions were removed during our visit," said Manu Srivatsa, president of the Jammu Press Club, adding it was "a lifetime's experience".

"People there want things to work smoothly between India and Pakistan. They want a movement forward in economic ties."

The most striking feature of the visit, some said, was the infrastructure in Pakistan controlled Kashmir such as well-laid road networks and uninterrupted power supply.

Zafar Meraj, a senior journalist in the Valley who owns the English daily Kashmir Monitor, said the visit had broadened "our vision".

"What we did not know about the people and their feelings is better known to us now," he said.

Another journalist Satish Verma said the hospitality of people for journalists from Jammu and Kashmir was overwhelming. "I believe the hospitality had a message that people want greater interaction."

In Mirpur, Muzzaffarabd and Gilgit, people were for the reopening of road links between the two countries. The sweeping feeling throughout Pakistan-administered Kashmir was that India and Pakistan should submerge their hostilities and allow better contacts between people.

"Our shared history is our biggest linkage and that can be preserved by the opening of road links," Verma noted. "It was reflected in the enthusiasm that reports of the opening of roads has generated there."

Three road links that have been proposed for reopening are Jammu-Sialkot, Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Kargil-Skardu.

--Indo-Asian News Service