Decks cleared for start of Poonch-Rawalkot bus service

Poonch, June 18 (UNI) After the historic Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, India and Pakistan will, on Tuesday, initiate another bus service -- between Poonch and Rawalakote in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) -- as part of efforts to facilitate people-to-people contacts.

The decision to open the new link -- the first south of the Pir Panjal Range -- was taken after talks between India and Pakistan in New Delhi on May 3.

Almost each family living in Poonch, which witnessed extensive fighting in the 1947-48 Kashmir War, has relatives across the Line of Control (LoC), with people on either side sharing a common language and culture.

Now, with the long wait almost over, the emotions, excitement and palpitation are high among the people of this border district of the state as their nearly six-decade wait for reuniting with separated family members and friends in PoK will come to an end, as the bus to Rawalakote, barely 40 kms from here, starts.

The sentiment is well reflected in a sign post in Urdu, put up at the last point along the LoC, which says ''Sarhad zameen bant sakti hain, par dilon ko nahin (Borders can divide land but not hearts).'' With the launch of the bus service, the fortightly crossing on foot from Chakan-da-Bagh, the last point on the Indian side of the LoC, where passengers were dropped by buses coming from Poonch, will end.

Meanwhile, preparations have been completed for the inauguration of the new link. The ten-km road from Poonch to the LoC has been laid in record time of four months by civil and Army authorities till the last point on the LoC. A new customs and immigration building, painted in vibrant colours, has also come up.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee will flag off Poonch-Rawalakote bus service here. They would be accompanied by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Army Chief Gen J J Singh, official sources in the state government confirmed.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was likely to come for this historic event, which was scheduled to be held on June 19, but was later postponed by a day.

It is not clear who will inaugrate the bus service from the other side of the LoC.

In view of VVIPs, checkpoints have been erected at sensitive points in the insurgency-infested district. Army troops and para-military forces, as well as police personnel, have been deployed in strength, and are on full alert in view of a possible terrorist attack.

UNI RKS VD VA BD1159