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Kashmir buses start historic run
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-07 14:56

Buses have begun their historic journey across the heavily militarized frontier that splits Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (C) flags off the historic first bus to Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir, in Srinagar April 7, 2005. Buses set off from the capitals of Indian and Pakistani Kashmir on Thursday, carrying passengers bound for the other side of the divided territory for first time in nearly 60 years, in a major boost for the peace process between the nuclear rivals. [Reuters]

Two buses left Srinagar on Thursday at about 11.00 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) amid high security following an attack on a government compound housing bus passengers in Srinagar on Wednesday.

Four militant groups have claimed responsibility for that attack, in which six people were injured and at least one attacker was killed.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the buses as "a caravan of peace" before seeing off the nearly two dozen passengers.

A Pakistani Kashmiri driver of a bus adjusts a Pakistani flag before departure from a bus terminal in Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, April 7, 2005. A bus garlanded with orange marigolds set off from the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday carrying passengers bound for the Pakistani side of the territory for the first time in nearly 60 years. The bus, launching a historic service linking the Himalayan region divided since 1947, was sent off by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Kashmir's main city Srinagar, bound for Muzaffarabad. [Reuters]

Some hugged Singh before boarding. Singh waved a blue flag to mark the start of the bus service to Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, another bus set off bound for the Indian side of the territory.

No such bus services have run since the Kashmir dispute began in the mid-20th century, when modern India and Pakistan were formed.

As many as seven passengers pulled out of the Muzaffarabad-bound trip following the Srinagar attack because they feared it was too dangerous, according to news service reports.

Pakistani Kashmiri passengers arrive to board a bus bound for Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir, at a bus terminal in Muzaffarabad April 7, 2005. A bus set off from the capital Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on Thursday carrying passengers bound for the Indian side of the region for the first time in more then 50 years. [Reuters]

Six people were injured in Wednesday's attack but the passengers escaped unharmed and officials insisted they would go ahead with the bus service.

Passengers who had purchased tickets for the bus ride were staying in safe houses because of the threats, and none of them appeared to be at the tourist center at the time of the attack.

Twenty-nine people were due to travel on the bus from the Indian side.

Indian security services were out in force Thursday, blocking off all access routes to the buses' departure point in Srinagar.

The Indian Army has checked the entire route for explosives and armed forces will also be present along the road.

"The morale of the people and the passengers appears to be high," federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil said Wednesday evening.

"The bus will leave for Muzaffarabad according to schedule."

In Pakistan, officials also insisted the bus service would not be stopped.

"Pakistan strongly condemns anyone attacking innocent people," Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri told reporters in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

"What is their crime? Their only wish is to meet with their relatives."

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Srinagar Thursday to inaugurate what has been described as the most significant peace gesture between the two arch-rivals in decades of hostility.

India and Pakistan agreed to start the bus service to help families separated by the dispute to be reunited.

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