M A I N   N E W S

List of bus passengers sent to Pakistan

New Delhi, March 20
India has submitted to Pakistan a list of 40 persons who had applied for travel in the first bus between Srinagar and Muzzafarabad on April 7 but a similar list from the other side was awaited.

Highly placed sources said Pakistan had refused to issue any travel form to the people, mostly militants, who had crossed over from Jammu and Kashmir to PoK after the outbreak of militancy in 1990.

They said the first list comprised people from divided families mainly from Rajouri, Poonch and other bordering districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The bus would be flagged off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Srinagar.

The list was decided on the first-come-first-serve basis and clearance from the Pakistani authorities was awaited, the sources said, adding that out of the 40 persons, only 30 would be cleared in the first lot and the remaining would be put on the waiting list. They would be accommodated in the second bus in May this year.

The fare for the bus travel was put at Rs 750 one way and the passengers would be required to pay the two-way fare in advance. Pakistani media reports said there had been protests in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, on non-issuance of travel forms to people who went over there after 1990. — PTI