Cross-LoC bus service suspended because of inclement weather

SRINAGAR: The weekly cross-LoC bus service which runs between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in PoK was suspended today after the inclement weather rendered the road unsafe for movement of vehicles in Uri area of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The "Karvan-e-Aman' was suspended as heavy rains over the past two days left a portion of the 170-km Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road near 'Aman Sethu' (peace bridge) in Uri sector submerged, they said.

They said the heavy rains also triggered landslides and blocked the road at a few places rendering it unsafe for the movement of vehicles.

Billed as the "mother of all confidence building measures" between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), was started in 2005. It is operated every Monday to facilitate the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir living on the either side of the LoC to visit each other.

While the high altitude areas of Kashmir valley experienced heavy snowfall over the past two days, the plains including Srinagar were lashed by intermittent rains, forcing closure of several roads including Srinagar-Jammu and Srinagar-leh National highways besides the roads connecting the border areas along the LoC to the district headquarters of north Kashmir.