MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 2: The Foreign Office has asked the Azad Kashmir authorities to resume bus services to the Line of Control from Muzaffarabad and Rawlakot but officials here have reportedly expressed inability to follow the directive citing financial and administrative constraints.

Pakistan and India launched the first bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar on April 7, 2005. The buses on either side were to carry passengers to terminals close to the LoC, from where the travellers would cross the line on foot after completion of formalities. The buses brought passengers from across the LoC on their way back.

The service was suspended after last year’s earthquake played havoc with road infrastructure in AJK.

The Chakothi-Uri crossing point was reopened on Nov 9, 2005, but the passengers have to reach the makeshift bus terminal in Chakothi on their own. Passengers arriving from held Kashmir or returning to Azad Jammu and Kashmir have also to make their own arrangement for their travel from Chakothi.

A bus service launched on June 20 between Rawlakot and Poonch also exists only in papers as the authorities have not been able to arrange a vehicle to shuttle between Rawlakot and Tetrinote, the last village on the AJK side of the LoC.

On the inaugural day, a public transport vehicle was hired by local administration with a banner affixed on it, reading Rawlakot-Poonch bus service. Since then, the travellers have been making their own arrangements to reach Tetrinote.

“WE don’t have any vehicle to transport passengers from Rawlakot to the border village because we don’t’ have any financial head to purchase a bus,” admitted Sardar Pervaiz Yaqub, an official designated for the Rawlakot-Poonch crossing point.

He told Dawn that he had conveyed the problem to the Foreign Office in response to its directive that a bus should be purchased for the passengers.

According to sources, initially the Foreign Office had promised to provide a bus for the Rawlakot-Poonch service but the commitment was not fulfilled.

The sources said a prefabricated terminal had been built near the LoC for passengers of Rawlakot-Poonch service by the AJK public works department through a Turkish firm at a cost of Rs7.6 million. However, the terminal lacked furniture and other necessities, mainly because of non-availability of funds.

“On the days of crossings, chairs and tables are brought from other places for the passengers,” the sources said.

Mr Yaqub said there was no separate budget for the crossing point but the government had been asked recently to provide funds for the purpose.