Four guerrilla groups said in a joint statement Wednesday that those planning to ride the bus would face the consequences of being branded "traitors" by anti-Indian rebels.

"We humbly request persons selected to travel on the first and second bus to Muzaffarabad not to enter the coffin but if they do, they will find their names in the list of traitors," they said.

The statement, issued by the al-Nasireen, Save Kashmir Movement, Farzandan-e-Millat and al-Arifeen groups, was accompanied by the list of 40 people, complete with residential addresses, selected by India to travel on the maiden service.

"We feel pained at what has happened. We want to cross over to see our near ones not to do any politics," said Ghulam Fatima, 55, whose name appears on the Indian list along with that of her husband Mohammed Abdullah.

"No power on earth can stop me from meeting my daughter," a fuming Fatima told AFP.

"I appeal to the Mujahedin (militants) to withdraw their threat as my parents are desperate to meet their daughter," said their second daughter, Nazira Bano, 35.

Bano said her parents had many times been denied visas to visit Pakistan by New Delhi but now that they had a chance to visit Muzaffarabad "this threat has come up".

Another passenger, requesting anonymity, said those riding the bus were "innocent civilians who have nothing to do with politics".

"If militants had to ban this service they should have told us before we applied for the permits," he said.

The bus is scheduled to operate from April 7 between Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, and Muzaffarabad, the administrative headquarters of the Pakistani zone of Kashmir.

The bus has been hailed not only as a historic boost to peace between the two nuclear rivals but also as a way of reuniting families divided for nearly six decades.

The rebel statement said the bus service would not be in the interests of the ongoing "jihad" (holy war) against Indian rule in Kashmir.

"It is a conspiracy to strengthen the Indian occupation," it said.