Kashmir gets a second peace bus

SRINAGAR: Adding another chapter to the growing people-to-people links between the two parts of Kashmir, India and Pakistan on Tuesday launched a bus service connecting Poonch and Rawalkot, 58 years after the road link was snapped following the partition.

Carrying 30 passengers, the second “Karavan-e-Aman” bus was flagged off amidst tight security by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who described the service as a step to bring down the “wall of mistrust and hatred.”

The first bus from Rawalkot was flagged off by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Prime Minister Hayat Khan with 57 people on board. The much-awaited bus service, which covers the 39-km distance between the two towns on either side of the LoC, saw joyous meetings between divided Kashmiri families.

Buses from both sides did not cross the LoC, and passengers walked over the frontier and resumed their journey in the vehicles on either side.  Travellers like Zaheer Ahmed Bhatti, who lost his mother in a militant attack in 2004, said they would “propagate a message of love” to end the bloodshed in J&K. “I am a victim of violence along with thousands of people in Kashmir. I will go to PoK and advocate an end to violence,” he said.