SRINAGAR : Despite high tension due to violence that left eight civilians dead and over 150, including 100 security force personnel, injured during massive clashes yesterday, the Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, left for Kaman Post this morning.
“Yes the bus left from here for Kaman post, the last Indian military post, on this side of LoC,” official sources told UNI. It has since reached Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) Uri. However, he said the exact number of passengers travelling to PoK will be known later in the afternoon.
The bus service, major Confidence Building Measure (CBM) between Indian and Pakistan after 1999 Kargil War, continued despite unrest in Kashmir last year and tension on the LoC due to ceasefire violation and the surgical strike in the PoK.
The cross-LoC bus service, started on April 7, 2005 despite opposition by militant organisations, has helped thousands of families, divided in 1947 due to Partition, to meet each other after India and Pakistan agreed to allow travel of state subjects from both sides on travel permits instead of international passport.
However, travel permit is issued to citizens from both sides of the LoC only after their names are cleared by intelligence agencies from India and Pakistan. (AGENCIES)