| Karvan-e-Aman service resumes, 74 to cross over to POK | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 25:The weekly Karvan-e-Aman cross Line of Control (LoC) bus service, operating between Srinagar and Muzafarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), resumed this morning after remaining suspended for three weeks.
Three buses, carrying 63 returnees and ten Kashmiri residents, have reached Salamabad, Uri at 0700 hrs from Srinagar, official sources said.
They said the bus service was suspended on July 4 in view of the Eid-ul-Fitr. However, due to unrest after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) commander Burhan Wani and two other militants in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir on July 8, the bus service could not operate on July 11 and July 18.
Today three buses carrying 63 POK and ten Kashmiri residents left State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) yard Bemina at 0430 hrs. All the buses reached Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC), Salamabad, Uri at 0700 hrs safely, they said adding they will be taken to Kaman post later.
Sources said 63 POK residents who had arrived in previous buses before Eid-ul-Fitr, could not return to their homes because of suspension of the bus service.
They included 24 women and 16 children. Ten Kashmiris, including five women and a child, are travelling to POK to meet their relatives, separated due to partition in 1947.
The bus service, introduced on April 7,2005, has helped thousands of families divided in 1947, to meet each other through Srinagar-Muzaffar road after India and Pakistan agreed to allow travel of state subjects from both sides on Travel Permits instead of International passport despite opposition by militant organisations. |
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