Militant groups warn bus drivers not to cross LoC

Less than two days before the inaugural run of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, militants renewed their threat against the service.

The four militant groups, which had warned passengers not to board the bus, on Tuesday said the two bus drivers and also the passengers would 'writhe in bloody pain' if they tried to cross the Line of Control.

• They are pawns in the great game

"We have collected the complete bio-data of both the drivers of the State Road Transport Corporation. They are warned not to play with their lives by driving these buses," al Nasireen, Save Kashmir Movement, al Arifeen and Farzandan-e-Millat said in a joint statement in Srinagar.

These people can cross the international border to meet their relatives, but not by crossing the LoC, they said. They asked the passengers to take the Wagah border route instead.

The four groups had on March 30 and April 2 threatened the passengers, saying if they boarded the bus it would harm the Kashmir cause.

• 'My son will board the bus over my dead body'

While the previous joint statements were signed, the statement issued in Tuesday was not signed.

The outfits claimed they had got the list of passengers in original from close associates of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

"It is not difficult to buy out some people close to Sayeed for some money," the statement said.

The outfits said the impression being created about the opening of the road paving the way for Kashmir's independence was a 'sugar-coated poison pill'.