Are we there yet?: Pakistan plans bus route from Mirpur to Birmingham

Journey will take approximately eight days: Officials.

MUZAFFARABAD: Authorities in Pakistan are planning to launch a bus route from the Kashmir town of Mirpur to the British city of Birmingham – 8,000 kilometres away.

The mammoth journey will take travellers through some of the most treacherous and dangerous areas of Pakistan on their way to Iran, Turkey and Europe before reaching the Midlands city after around eight days, officials said.

Tahir Khokhar, the transport minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, told AFP that fares would be around Rs20,000 ($210), a fraction of air fares that are typically close to $1,000.

Birmingham has a large population of British Pakistanis, many of whose families originally hail from Mirpur, one of the largest cities in the Pakistan-administered part of the disputed Himalayan territory. Khokhar said he was confident of passengers’ safety, even though they will pass through the restive province of Balochistan, which is plagued by Taliban militants, sectarian violence and a separatist insurgency.

“Officials in Balochistan have assured me of providing foolproof security,” he said.

Officials have been working on the plans for three months and are in talks with a number of bus companies, Khokhar said, but no date has been set for the service to start.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2012.