96 Karvaan-e-Aman passengers cross sides in J&K

Srinagar, Aug 16 (UNI) As many as 96 passengers on board the Karvaan-e-Aman (peace bus) crossed sides at Kaman post, the last Indian military post in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir today.

Official sources said 22 residents of Jammu and Kashmir today left here for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) to meet their relatives for the first time after 60 years of separation.

Similarly, 31 residents of POK, who had come here in the last bus also left for their homes after meeting their relatives.

The passengers left in four Karvaan-e-Aman buses under tight security arrangements for Kaman post where they will deboard and cross over to other side of the Line of Control (LoC), from where they would leave for Muzaffarabad, the capital of POK.

Sources said 21 fresh passengers from POK also arrived here to meet their relatives.

Twenty-two residents of this side of the border also returned from POK after meeting their relatives there.

The cross border service between the two divided parts of Kashmir was resumed on April 7, 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from here after 58 years.

About seven thousand passengers have crossed sides since the start of the service, which was affected for about two months when devastating earthquake struck Jammu and Kashmir and PoK on October 8, killing thousands of people on both sides.

UNI