Snowfall: Cross-LoC trade, weekly bus suspended in Kashmir

Weekly bus service between Muzaffarabad -Srinagar named as ‘Karvan-e-Aman’ runs on a 170km road.

Heavy snowfall on Monday coupled with torrential rains forced authorities both at Muzaffarabad and Srinagar to suspend the cross-LoC trade, as well as halt the weekly bus service between the two cities as snow blocked the road connecting them, stated officials.

The weekly bus service between Azad Jammu & Kashmir’s (AJK) metropolis Muzaffarabad and Srinagar named as ‘Karvan-e-Aman’ (peace caravan) was scheduled to run on Monday but avalanche warning along the 170km road forced authorities to suspend it.

It was also decided that trade between either side of the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir will not take place this week due to the closure of the road.

Meanwhile, both sides of the state – AJK and IHK also experienced moderate to heavy snowfall over the past two days, resulting in closure of many roads, including the arterial Srinagar-Jammu  highway, the only road linking  the Indian-held Kashmir with the rest of the world.

The bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar was started in the first week of April 2005 to facilitate meeting of divided Kashmiri families.