SRINAGAR: As many as 32 residents of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) arrived here, while 16 Kashmiris crossed over to other side of the Line of Control (LoC) in the Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. Last week, the bus service was suspended due to landslides and security reasons on other side of the LoC.
Meanwhile, 37 returnees also crossed sides at Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of LoC in Uri sector.
Official sources here today said that 32 POK residents, including eight women and two children, arrived at Kaman post after crossing Aman Setu, peace bridge, on foot to meet their relatives, separated in 1947 due to partition.
They said 26 Kashmiris, who had gone to POK, returned to Srinagar after completing stay there. They included 12 women and three children. Meanwhile, 16 Kashmiris, including six women and two children, crossed to the other side of the LoC to meet their relatives, sources said.
As many as 11 POK residents, including four women and a child, who had come to Srinagar in a previous bus, also returned to their homes, they added.
The bus service has helped thousands of families, separated due to partition to meet each other after India and Pakistan agreed to allow travel of divided families, on Permits instead of International passports, to meet each other since the first bus was flagged off by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 7, 2005. (Agencies)
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