New Delhi, March 19
India has conveyed to Pakistan its readiness to start the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service from August 1, it is learnt.
Pakistan’s response would be made known at the technical-level talks for the bus service to be held in Pakistan. The talks have been deferred by mutual consent of the two countries because of “logistical difficulties”.
The talks will be held on April 8-9, instead of the earlier mutually agreed dates of March 29-30.
An inter-ministerial meeting was held in South Block, Ministry of External Affairs, here on March 16. Representatives of the Jammu and Kashmir Government also attended the meeting. All concerned agreed that they would be in a position to put in place the required infrastructure for starting the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus “in three or four months”.
An official communication from India to Pakistan says that New Delhi will be ready for starting the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus from August 1.
A joint secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport will head the Indian delegation to Islamabad, as was the case for the delegation of Munabao (Rajasthan-Khokhrapar (Sind) bus service and also originally for the Delhi-Lahore bus service.
India has made a similar offer to Pakistan in the case of the Munabao-Khokhrapar bus service and conveyed to Islamabad its willingness and operational readiness to start the service from August 1. However, the Pakistani authorities told their Indian counterparts at the March 9-10 talks in Islamabad that they needed some more time to prepare the necessary infrastructure.
It is understood that both sides have dismissed the terrorist threat to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and expressed confidence to provide fool-proof security to the buses operating on this route. Several terrorist outfits, including the Hizb-ul Mujahideen and various renamed versions of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba, have threatened to attack buses operating on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route.
