Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 10: The cross-LoC bus service between Poonch and Rawlakote in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was suspended today by the authorities here in the wake of firing and shelling by the Pakistan army last night at Chakan-Da-Bagh from where the bus originates.
The shelling by the Pakistan army damaged the two-storey administrative block of Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) and police barracks at Chakan-Da-Bagh, which is the point for crossing of the bus and trade exchange at the LoC.
“There has been Pakistan shelling overnight. As a precautionary measure, cross-LoC bus service from here has been suspended,” official sources said.
They added that 14 citizens of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) were scheduled to return to their homes in the cross-LoC bus and they had reached the Degree College Ground at Poonch to board the bus on way home.
However, Pakistan authorities didn’t open the gates, a result of which the cross-LoC bus didn’t operate.
Authorities will take a decision tomorrow morning on whether cross-LoC trade between two parts of divided State will take place from Tuesday to Thursday.
In the shelling, the TFC and police barracks suffered damages at Chakan-Da-Bagh last night.
However, no one was injured in the firing and shelling.
Since last Saturday, the Pakistan army has been shelling parts of Poonch sector intermittently with 82 and 120 mm mortar bombs.
On Saturday, an off-duty Army jawan and his wife were killed and four others were injured in the Pakistani shelling.
Meanwhile, despite tense situation on the Line of Control (LoC) due to unprovoked shelling by Pakistani troops almost daily in Jammu region, the Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), left for Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the border.
Record number of 50 guests arrived here from PoK in the bus last week after it could not operate on June 26, owing to Eid festival.
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