14600 in queue to visit AJK

SRINAGAR—Many of the 14,600 aspirants who want to cross the border to Azad Kashmir (AJK) on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus will have to wait more than a decade for their wish to come true, if there is no change in the frequency of the existing service. The fortnightly bus service, which has completed three years of operation, can only ferry 450 passengers a year on an average to the other side of the border. Only members of divided families separated by the Line of Control (LoC) can avail the bus service, which has given hope to many of such people to reunite. Regional Passport Officer B S Manavalan said altogether 14,600 applications have been received from those who want to meet their relatives on the other side of LoC by travelling on the bus. “I have visited my uncle on the other side of the border during the marriage of his son in 2007 using a Pakistani visa. But the bus ride seems elusive,” he added. Several political parties, including the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), ally of the ruling Congress, have appealed to the Centre to increase frequency of the service in order to make it a more meaningful exercise. They have also sought extension of travel permits to ordinary residents of the State in order to increase the people-to-people contact between the two sides of the border. At present, only members of the divided families can board the bus.—Agencies