India and Pakistani authorities today agreed to resume from next week the cross-LoC bus service along the Line of Control in Kashmir Valley stalled since January 17, but a breakthrough remained elusive over resumption of trade.
"A meeting took place at Kaman Post along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir between officials from this side and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which agreed to resume the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service from Monday," a senior government official said.
He, however, said the meeting failed to end the deadlock over the trade activities.
PoK authorities had suspended both trade and travel on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route on January 17 after the arrest of a Pakistani driver along with a huge consignment of brown sugar worth Rs 100 crore.
In the last meeting arranged on January 27 to end the deadlock, Pakistani authorities had asked for the FIR copy and the FSL report which had authenticated that the seized contraband was brown sugar.
But, the Indian officials informed their PoK counterpart that the evidence cannot be handed over to them as the Centre wanted Pakistan to seek the same through its High Commission.
Over 110 packets of brown sugar were recovered from a Pakistani vehicle at Salamabad Trade facilitation centre earlier this month. The driver of the vehicle was arrested.
The PoK officials refused to take back other 48 drivers and vehicles from that side and also detained the 27 Indian drivers and their vehicles, demanding the release of the arrested driver.
