Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, May 18: Only three J&K residents among 108 persons, crossed sides at Chakkan-da-Bagh LoC point in district Poonch today.
A total 62 persons crossed over to that side of the LoC today when the gates opened. 59 were the PoK returnees while three Indians crossed over to that side to meet their relatives.
46 PoK guests arrived here from that side but there was not even a single J&K returnee in today’s weekly bus. The number of the J&K visitors has considerably decreased due to non-clearance of permits by the Pakistani authorities. About 3500 applications of the people from this side are said to be pending with the Pakistani authorities, which are reluctant to clear the cases.
Meanwhile, as many as 42 residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) arrived in Srinagar, while only five Kashmiris crossed over to other side of the Line of Control (LoC) to meet their relatives separated in 1947 due to partition.
Twenty-four returnees also crossed sides at the Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the border in Uri sector today, official sources said.
They said 42 PoK residents, including 14 women and four children, arrived at Kaman post after crossing Aman Setu, peace bridge on foot today. The number of PoK guests increases during summer and decreases during winter when here it is severe cold.
However, four Kashmiris, including a woman and a child, who had gone to PoK returned here after completing stay across the LoC, they said.
Sources said five Kashmiris crossed over to other side to meet their relatives in PoK, who were separated due to partition. They said 20 PoK residents, who had come here in previous buses, also returned to their homes. They included four women and six children.
The bus service, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, completed 10 years in service on April 7. It was started on April 7, 2005 when India and Pakistan agreed to allow travel of divided families on Travel Permits instead of International Passports. Thousands of families have so far travelled across the LoC.
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