Weekly cross-LoC bus service resumes in J-K's Poonch

After remaining suspended for a week following the Pulwama terror attack, the weekly cross-LoC bus service resumed on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, with only 17 passengers availing the facility, officials said.

No fresh Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) resident came here, apparently in view of the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan following Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed on February 14, they said.

The officials said, while 13 passengers, including 11 PoK residents crossed over to the other side from the Chakan-da-bagh crossing point in Poonch district, only four Indian residents walked into this side after the gates were opened.

The bus, connecting Poonch on the Indian side with Rawalakot in PoK, plies on Monday every week but did not cross the Line of Control (LoC). The passengers on either side reached the LoC by bus and then exchanged sides by foot to meet their relatives.

The bus service was suspended last week in view of the law and order situation in Jammu province following the terror attack on the CRPF convoy.

A curfew was imposed in the entire Jammu city on February 15 due to massive anti-Pakistan protests and sporadic incidents of violence over the terror attack.

However, the cross-LoC trade, which takes place between the divided sides from Tuesday to Friday, took place as usual, barring February 19 on account of a public holiday.

Billed as the biggest confidence-building measure, the bus service was started on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route in the Kashmir on April 7, 2005 and the Poonch-Rawalakot route in the Jammu region on June 20, 2006, to facilitate easier trade and travel between the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir and the PoK.

The trade, which works on the barter system between the divided parts started in October 2008.