Bus service between two halves of Kashmir resumes after 4-month hiatus

Service between Rawalakot and Poonch was suspended on July 10 following uptick in truce violations by Indian troops

MUZAFFARABAD: A bus service between two halves of the Himalayan state of Kashmir resumed on Monday after a hiatus of four months – much to the joy of divided families.

The bus service between Rawalakot, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), and Poonch, in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), was suspended due to skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian border guards on the Line of Control (LoC).

“The Rawalakot-Poonch cross-LoC bus service resumed on Monday,” Colonel (retd) Shahid, the travel and trade facilitation officer (TTFO), confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Poonch-Rawlakot bus service resumed. https://t.co/t9rjpdTlB3

— Rising Kashmir (@RisingKashmir) November 6, 2017

“Twenty passengers from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) boarded the bus to see their families in IOK, but the return run of the bus didn’t bring any passenger into Azad Kashmir,” he added.

Travel and Trade Authority (TATA) official Sardar Nayeem and other district administration officials saw off the bus.

The cross-LoC Rawalkot-Poonch bus service was suspended on July 10 following repeated ceasefire violations by Indian troops who shelled civilian population in AJK.

“Since then no bus had crossed the LoC,” Col (retd) Shahid said.