MUZAFFARABAD, April 18: The AJK authorities have selected 30 people for the second trans-Kashmir journey and are checking their availability for the tour, Dawn learnt here on Monday. Thirteen of those chosen for the second bus, scheduled to roll out from here on Thursday, were initially on the first list of 43 passengers, 30 of whom travelled to the other side of the Line of Control on April 7. The remaining 17 were picked from the second list which was recently verified by the Indian authorities.

“We have informed the applicants about their selection for the second bus but so far only 12 have shown their willingness to undertake the journey,” a highly-placed official source told Dawn.

However, the source attributed the lukewarm response to the cold weather in held Kashmir.

“Most of the applicants want to travel by May 5 and beyond when the weather becomes ideal for excursions in this region,” he said. The source made it clear that regardless of the number of passengers the bus would roll out in accordance with its schedule.

He was also confident that the frequency of travels and number of passengers was likely to increase in future, depending upon the smooth movement of buses.

“There is no problem from the Indian side. They are planning to launch the service from somewhere close to the LoC,” he said.

It may be mentioned here that AJK and Indian authorities had swapped lists for the second bus on April 8 which were returned by them to each other on Friday after formal verification and clearance.

AJK’s list contained 50 names of which 47 were cleared by the Indian authorities whereas held Kashmir’s list comprised 119 names of which 32 were cleared by AJK authorities.