26 people cross LoC in Karvaan-e-Aman
Srinagar: Despite escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Karvaan-e-Aman-Srinagar Muzzafarabad bus service hasn’t been affected as 20 people from this side crossed the LoC sans any hindrance on Monday.
Regional Passport Officer Srinagar, Firdous Iqbal who is nodal officer for the service told Kashmir News Service that 20 persons from this side of Kashmir crossed the LoC while six persons from that side entered in Kashmir Valley. “There hasn’t been any suspension of the Bus Service- it is functioning normally. Only on Eid, the service was suspended,” Iqbal told KNS.
The bus service connects Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital with erstwhile part of the state- Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir across the Line of Control. The bus is of symbolic importance to the efforts of the two nations’ governments to foster peaceful and friendly relations and follows the success of the Delhi–Lahore Bus, which was launched in 1999.
Nodal Officer of Karvaan-e-Aman, Firdous Iqbal said that the bus service operates every Monday and there were in total 26 people who crossed the LoC from both sides in the bus.
Pertinently, the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after Uri attack hasn’t affected the bus service .While there were apprehensions of both sides about to getting engaged in a serious battle, the bus service, started as a Confidence Building Measure (CBM), has so far managed to safeguard itself from the animosity being witnessed on both sides. (KNS)