SRINAGAR : The weekly Karvan-e-Aman bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) resumed today after remaining suspended due to drug row.
The bus left Srinagar this morning for Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector, official sources told. This said similarly a bus with passengers left Muzaffarabad for Chakoti on other side of the LoC. The passengers from both sides will cross Aman Setu, peace bridge on foot this afternoon, they said. The cross border trade was resumed on February 12 after remaining suspended from February 6 following recovery of 300 packets of drug in orange boxes from a PoK truck at Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) at Salamabad Uri in north Kashmir.
The weekly bus service could not take off on November 9 after refusal by PoK authorities’ who were demanding release of the siezed truck from which the drug was released, its driver and drug so that he (driver) could be prosecuted there (PoK).
Decision to resume bus and trade services was taken after authorities in PoK and Kashmir agreed to resume cross LoC service from February 12 when both the sides agreed to allow all but one stranded trucks to return to their respective sides.
However, the truck in which the drug was transported from PoK to Kashmir was not released and the driver also remained in Baramulla.
About 300 packets containing narcotics were recovered from orange boxes from a PoK truck on February 6 at TFC at Salamabad, Uri, in north Kashmir district of Baramulla. The driver of truck Syed Inayat Hussain Shah, resident of Kumikote Muzaffarbad, capital of PoK, besides a local trader Zahoor Ahmad Malla alias Raju Trali, a resident of Baramulla were arrested. Two other local traders were also questioned. They said 22 trucks loaded with different commodities had arrived at Salamabad while 50 trucks from here had crossed over to other side of the LoC.
This was the third time drugs were recovered from PoK trucks since the cross border trade was resumed in 2008 after remaining suspended since 1947. Last year, the service remained suspended for about three weeks after police recovered over 100 kilograms of brown sugar from a POK truck.
However, it was resumed later after the intervention of the External Affairs Ministries of the two countries.
(AGENCIES)
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