9 PaK guests arrive; 33 Kashmiris cross over to other side of LoC

Srinagar: Nine guests from Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PaK) arrived here while 33 Kashmiris crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) in the weekly Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.
As many as nine people also returned from both sides to their respective places, official sources told UNI on Monday afternoon.
They said nine residents of PaK arrived at Kaman Post, after crossing the Aman Setu, peace bridge. They included five women and a child.
Four Kashmiris, who had gone to PaK in previous buses, also returned after completing their stay there.
They said 33 Kashmiris, including 12 women and four children, crossed to the other side of LoC in the weekly bus. Five PaK residents, who had arrived in previous buses, returned to their homes after completing their stay here.
The number of guests coming here from PaK goes down during winter months while it increases during summer. On the contrary, the number of people going to PaK goes down in summer and increases in winter.
The inter cross-LoC bus service was one of the major Confidence Building (CBM) taken by India and Pakistan after both the countries agreed for a ceasefire on LoC and International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir in 2003.
The peace bus service has been operating despite repeated attempts being made by militants to sneak into this side from PaK before the higher reaches close due to snowfall for winter months. The bus has since helped thousands of divided families to meet each other.
However, only state subjects from both the sides, are eligible to travel in the bus after their names are cleared by intelligence agencies from both sides.