SRINAGAR: The Karvan-e-Aman bus, operating between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) left here on Monday morning to cross over to other side of the Line of Control (LoC), official sources said.
They said the bus left Bemina at 0740 hrs with 17 passengers, which included a Kashmir resident who is travelling to PoK to meet his relatives separated in 1947 partition.
The bus has since reached Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) at Uri in north Kashmir district of Baramulla, where more passengers will board it before crossing over to other side at Kaman post, the last Indian military post on this side of the LoC.
The exact number of passengers travelling to other side will only be known in the afternoon, they said, adding that similarly people coming from PoK will also be known in the evening.
The number of passengers from PoK drops when temperature goes down during winter but increases in summer when weather gets pleasant.
Similarly, the number of people visiting from here to PoK goes up in winter and drops in summer.
The cross-LoC bus, introduced on April 7, 2005, has helped thousands of families divided during partition to meet each other.
However, only state subjects from both sides are allowed to travel in the bus on "Travel Permits" instead of International passport provided their names are cleared intelligence agencies from India and Pakistan.