Srinagar,
Jan 1: The Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad,
capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), resumed on Monday after remaining
suspended last week on the request from across the Line of Control (LoC) owing
to the birth anniversary of Pak founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
The peace bus left Bemina Srinagar this morning with 31
passengers, including 26 Kashmiris who are crossing over to other side to meet
their relatives, separated due to partition in 1947, official sources told UNI.The bus has since reached Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC), Uri, where more passengers will join before crossing to other side at Kaman post, the last India military post on this side on the LoC.
Passengers, who could not travel last week in the bus, have been accommodated this time, they said adding the exact number of those travelling in the peace bus will be known in the afternoon. Similarly those coming from POK will also be known in the evening.
However, the number of POK residents visiting Kashmir goes down during winter when temperatures goes down here but increases in the summer. Similarly Kashmiri crossing over to other side increases during winter but goes down in summer, when weather remains pleasant here.
The bus, one of the major Confidence Building Measure (CBM), taken by India and Pakistan in 2005 has helped thousands of families divided due to partition to meet each other. However, only state subjects from both sides of the LoC are eligible to travel on “ Travel Permits” instead of International Passport, in the bus though they have to get clearance from the intelligence agencies from both the countries. UNI
