Despite tension on border, peace bus leaves for Kaman post to cross over to PoK

Srinagar, Sept 18: Despite tense situation on the border due to unprovoked shelling by Pakistani troops in Jammu region and infiltration attempts in Kashmir, the weekly-peace bus 'Karvan-e-Aman', operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), left here this morning to cross over to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), official sources said. Pak troops have been violating ceasefire almost daily on the LoC and International Border (IB), particularly in Jammu region, that left a woman and a soldier dead and several others injured during the past 48 hours while alert troops killed two Pak infiltrators in Machil sector recently. However, despite all these provocations, the weekly bus left Bemina in Srinagar this morning for Kaman post to cross over to other side of the LoC despite heavy rain", sources told UNI. They said 14 passengers, including 13 returnees and one fresh resident of Kashmir, boarded the bus here. However, the exact number of people crossing over to PoK will be known in the evening. Similarly, the number of travelling from PoK to this side will also be known in the evening, they said. The bus service, a major Confidence Building Measure (CBM), was taken to allow resident of both sides, separated in 1947 to meet each other. The first bus operated despite opposition by militant outfits on April 7, 2005 and later all separatist leaders, barring hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, travelled in the bus to PoK. However, only the state subjects from both sides are eligible to travel in the bus after intelligence agencies of Pakistan and India clear their names. So far thousands of families, separated due to partition, have met each other after the introduction of the peace bus. UNI