Pulwama attack fallout: India suspends Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service

Muzaffarabad: India has halted a key bus service between Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani and Indian officials said Wednesday. According to a Pakistani official, Shahid Mehmood, Indian authorities suspended the bus service this week without explanation.

The development comes amid escalated tensions between Pakistan and India in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed. The suicide attack has been claimed by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) led by Maulana Masood Azhar.

Pakistan condemned the Pulwama terror attack but cautioned India against linking it to the bombing without an investigation.

An Indian official confirmed the bus service was halted on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar was suspended so suddenly that travelers only learned about when they went to the terminal. Private cars, motorcycles and other forms of transportation have long been banned. The bus service, launched in 2005, served to reunite families on the two sides of the Line of Control.

"I came to Muzaffarabad from Rawalpindi to welcome my cousin but was told that no bus will come from Srinagar," said Zareena Bibi, a 43-year-old Pakistani woman.

Shehzada Akhtar, a 56-year-old woman from the Shopian area in Jammu and Kashmir, said she was prevented from traveling Monday following a death in her family in PoK.

"I could not go to see my ailing uncle in 2016 when there was some tension between India and Pakistan," Akhtar said. "Now when my uncle has passed away, I am again unable to share grief with my beloved cousins."

Angered over the suspension of bus service, dozens of people rallied in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday.

Since independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India—both nuclear-armed nations—have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is divided between the two but claimed by each in its entirety.

Last week's bombing in Jammu and Kashmir was the worst attack against Indian forces in the history of the state, where rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.