SRINAGAR: Karvan-e-Aman bus operated on Monday after remaining being suspended for eight weeks to allow 3 residents of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to return to their homes, official sources said.
“No fresh guest from PoK or from here will travel in the bus which will remain suspended,” sources said.
The PoK residents had got stuck up in the valley after the bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, remained suspended from March 4.
The PoK residents will cross over to other side at Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the Line of Control (LoC).
They said two Kashmiri residents, who had gone to PoK and got stuck up in there due to cancellation of bus service, returned to their home on May 21 evening after authorities from both sides agreed to allow stranded residents from both sides to return to their homes. Due to some communication gap, residents could not travel to other side.
The peace bus, operating since April 7, 2005 was suspended on March 4 due to some repair work of Aman setu, peace bridge from PoK side.
The cross-LoC trade was also suspended by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) after intelligence reports that trade was being used by anti-national elements for violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
The bus, one of the major Confidence Building Measure (CBM) taken by India and Pakistan, has helped thousands of families, divided since 1947 due to partition to meet each other.
It was also decided to allow residents from both sides to travel on “Travel Permits” instead of International passports.
(AGENCIES)
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