Srinagar, May 14(KMW): The Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK) left here on Monday morning to cross over to other side of the Line of Control (LoC), official sources said.
The bus left Bemina in Srinagar at 0700 hrs with 12 PaK residents returning home after completing stay here with their relatives, separated in 1947 due to partition, sources told News agency. They included seven women, they added.
The bus has since reached Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) at Uri where more passengers will board it before leaving for Kaman Post, the last Indian military post on this side of the LoC. The exact number of passengers will be known in the afternoon. The number of passengers travelling from PoK to Srinagar will be known in the evening, the sources said.
The cross-LoC bus was introduced on April 7,2005, despite opposition by militants, to allow families divided due to partition after both India and Pakistan agreed to allow state subjects from both sides on Travel Permits instead of International passport. However, travel permit is issued only after the names are cleared from intelligence agencies of both the countries. The service has helped thousands of divided families to meet each other.
