SRINAGAR: Families divided in the 1947 partition continued to suffer due to suspension of the Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) since March 4.
Meanwhile, Cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade also remained suspended from March 4 following ban by Home Ministry.
Chances of early resumption of bus service looks bleak due to prevailing tense situation between India and Pakistan, particularly on the LoC and International Border (IB) following almost daily ceasefire violation by the troops of neighbouring country.
The weekly bus could not operated today also, official sources said.
There are very less chances of early resumption of service due to continued tense situation between India and Pakistan, they said. The relations between the two neighbours further worsened following reports about presence of militants in launch pads in POK to infiltrate into this side before the upper reaches are closed due to snowfall, they added.
However, the service will be resumed only after receiving green signal from the government, they said.
The bus service was introduced on April 7, 2005 after India and Pakistan agreed to allow families divided in 1947 to meet each other on Travel Permits instead of International Passport.
Almost all separatist leaders, barring chairman of Hurriyat Conference (HC), Syed Ali Shah Geelani, presently under house arrest and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, travelled in the bus despite opposition by the militant outfit. Shah is presently detained in Tihar jail after his arrest by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in terror funding case.
However, the bus service was suspended on March 4 after a message was received from PoK that Aman Setu, peace bridge, was under repair.
Later, no message to resume the service was received, they said adding the bus has helped thousands of families to meet each other since its introduction.
(AGENCIES)
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