Second Bus Service Links Divided Kashmir
Ankit Gupta - All Headline News Staff Writer Jammu and Kashmir, India (AHN) - Roughly 58 years after the partition of the Indian subcontinent, India and Pakistan have launched a bus service connecting the areas of Poonch and Rawalkot. This new effort comes in the wake of growing people-to-people links between the divided parts of Kashmir. Describing the bus service as a crucial step to bring down the "wall of hatred and mistrust" the United People Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi flagged the bus off amidst high security. Carrying 45 passengers including 15 people returning to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the bus is second in the "Karavan-e-Aman" bus service launched last year. While across the border the first bus was flagged by Pakistan occupied Kashmir's (PoK) Prime Minister Hayat Khan with 54 people on board including 24 from Jammu and Kashmir, according to Press Trust of India sources. This much-awaited bus service, covering a distance of 39-km between the two towns on either side of the Line of Control (LoC), would facilitate joyous meetings between divided Kashmiri families. Before the bus service was launched from both the sides passengers had to walk over the frontier and resume their journey on vehicles on either side. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi said "This is bound to strengthen the relationship between the two countries," after flagging off the bus in the presence of the Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherje |
