Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service to resume from Aug 21

Srinagar, Aug 19 : The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service between India and Pakistan will resume on August 21. The service was suspended last week due to violent protests over the Amarnath land transfer in Kashmir valley.

Regional Passport Officer B L Manavalan said the fortnightly bus service will also ply on August 28 according to schedule.

Meanwhile, nearly two lakh people, including thousands of women, thronged various police stations here and courted arrests demanding restoration of land to the Amarnath shrine board even as curfew was relaxed for varying periods in Jammu, Samba, Udhampur and Kishtwar districts.

Official sources said the protesters held demonstrations within and outside police stations and posts, raising slogans like bum bum bolay and ek do teen char, bolay teri jai jai kar from 11 am to 3 pm.

Leaders of the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti (SASS), spearheading the agitation, claimed over 3.5 lakh people courted arrests in 10 districts of Jammu province.

Of these, 30 per cent were women, they said. The protesters also disrupted an official cultural function organised by the administration at Abhinav Theater here this evening.

ANI