Sonia flags off Poonch-Rawalakot bus service

Chakan-da-bagh (J&K), Jun 20 (UNI) Amid tight security and considerable fanfare, United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today flagged off the bus service between Poonch and Rawalkot in PoK as part of historic measures to facilitate people-to-people contacts across the LoC.

Carrying 30 passengers, the second 'Karavan-e-Aman' was flagged off in the presence of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and PDP leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, more than a year after the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad transport link was launched.

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.

The much awaited bus service, covering 39 km between the two towns, comes as a big relief for the divided Kashmiri families.

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

Now with the long wait 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 has come to an end, because the bus to Rawalakote, barely 40 km from here, has started.

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