Sunday, March 6 2005 14:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jammu: Cranking up repair and reconstruction on the Indo-Pak road to peace, the Army has cleared minefields along the Uri-Mufaffarabad stretch in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure the historic bus service rolls out on April 7.

"Keeping pace with the time for starting the historic Indo-Pak bus service on April 7, the Uri-Muzaffrabad road stretch of nearly 6 km on the Indian side has been de-mined completely," Jammu and Kashmir Roads and Buildings Minister Gulam Ahmed Mir said.

Entire minefields till the last India post, called 'Command Post', in Uri sector have been cleared by the Army, Mir said.

Mir, who reviewed the work on the Uri-Muzaffrabad road sector along with a special "technical team of engineers" of the roads and buildings department at Uri yesterday (Mar 5, 2005), said that all work would be completed before the deadline.

The Army began the de-mining operations close to the Line of Control (LOC) about a month ago to ensure the timely opening of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, he said.

Mines were placed along the stretch during "Operation Parakaram" after the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament.

The Pakistani Army had also mined the area of the road under their control.