India admits of irritants in Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Srinagar, June 14 (UNI) India today admitted that there were ''some irritants'' in the movement of the cross-border bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), which was launched on April 7, 2005.

''Yes, there are some irritants. We have discussed these in considerable depth. We have also tried to identify the areas where any delay is caused at our end,'' Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta told a news conference here.

He said as the bus goes across the Line of Control (LoC), the verification of passengers was done both by India and Pakistan.

''We have control only on our side. We have identified the possibilities of streamlining the entire process in such a manner so that once a person applied for travel documents, we communicate the other side in a time-bound manner,'' Mr Gupta added.

The Union Home Secretary assured that the Indian side would do everything possible in this regard. ''I assure you that we will do it,'' he added.

Mr Gupta said the Indian officials would also talk to their counterparts in Pakistan in this regard. ''We will talk to our counterparts on the other side and request them to do something similar like that,'' he added.

The Union Home Secretary said India was also looking at all the aspects to ensure that the whole process was streamlined and moved simultaneously from both the sides.

The cross-border bus service, also known as 'Karvaan-e-Aman' (Caravan of Peace), between the divided Kashmir was launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from here on April 7, 2005, after nearly 58 years following an agreement between India and Pakistan to allow families, separated since 1947, to meet each other.

The 170-km Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, also known as the Jhelum Valley road, was closed for traffic on October 27, 1947 when ''Kabailis (tribesmen)'' invaded parts of Jammu and Kashmir which came to be known as PoK.

The bus service completed its two years of run across the LoC on April 7 this year. But, the bus started with much fanfare and media hype has since slowed down considerably.

Only 860 people from both Jammu and Kashmir and the PoK undertook the journey in the first year of the bus service. And in the second year, the number had further gone down.

About 10,000 applications from Indian citizens and 7000 from the PoK were being processed at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here.

UNI

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