The Hindu : Front Page : Heavy security cover for bus passengers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005

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Heavy security cover for bus passengers

SRINAGAR, APRIL 4. With militant threats looming large, 23 Muzaffarabad-bound passengers were put under heavy security cover, three days before the launch of bus service across the Line of Control, and the Jammu and Kashmir Government today conducted a dry run to assess the security measures along the route.

Three passengers today purchased tickets for the journey at a special counter set up by the State Road Transport Corporation, official sources said. The authorities opened a bank counter to provide hassle-free foreign exchange to the passengers.

Twenty-three of the 29 passengers, who are to travel on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, were lodged at the Tourist Reception Centre here.

Amid tight security, they were whisked away to the centre soon after their arrival here from various parts of the State, the sources said.

Thirteen of them arrived from the Jammu region — eight from Rajouri, four from Poonch and one from Jammu.

Drivers and conductors of the bus had also been put under tight security cover.

A dry run of the bus was conducted up to Kaman bridge, the last point on this side of the LoC where passengers will disembark and walk across the frontier to take another bus for Muzaffarabad.

The exercise will be repeated tomorrow, the sources said, adding it was aimed at assessing the security measures put in place along the route.

Police rounded up nearly 300 people, including a number of released militants, as part of security measures to ensure trouble-free launch of the service.

The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will flag off the bus on April 7 from the Sher-e-Kashmir cricket stadium.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front alleged that security agencies were harassing the common man under the garb of providing security to passengers.

— PTI

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