SRINAGAR : The weekly-peace bus “Karvan-e-Aman”, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), left this morning from here with eight returnees for Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the Line of Control (LoC).
The bus had since reached the Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC), Salamabad, Uri to cross over to PoK, official sources said.
They said eight PoK guests, including four women, who had come here in previous buses, boarded the bus in Srinagar this morning. However, the exact number of passengers travelling in the bus to the other side of LoC will be known only in the afternoon.
The number of PoK residents traveling to this side will also be known later in the day.
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 strikes in PoK.
Despite opposition by the militant groups, 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 the intelligence agencies from India and Pakistan. (AGENCIES)
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