Amid tension, cross-LoC bus service resumes

Ishfaq Tantry & Amir Karim Tantray
Tribune News Service
Srinagar/Jammu, February 25

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Amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan, the cross-Line of Control (LoC) bus, Karvan-e-Aman, plied on Monday after gap of a week from both Uri-Salamabad and Chakan Da Bagh-Rawalakot routes.

This was the first bus service between Jammu and Kashmir after the deadly attack on security forces in Lethpora, Pulwama.

The peace bus with seven passengers on board left Srinagar on Mondaymorning amid tight security and reached the peace bridge connecting the two divided parts of Kashmir at the LoC in Uri in the afternoon. On the Poonch-Rawalakot route, 13 passengers boarded the bus near Dak Bungalow, Poonch, and crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) through Chakan Da Bagh.

“There were only two new passengers in the bus whereas 11 POK residents returned to their homes,” said an official of the district administration.

“From this side, five passengers crossed over to the other side, while from PoK, seven passengers arrived on the peace bus,” said a senior police officer in Baramulla.

There was no passenger from the Kashmir valley on the bus this week.

After reaching Uri in north Kashmir, the bus from Srinagar left the Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre towards the Kaman bridge around 11am with the passenger crossing taking place in the afternoon, an official said.