Even after India’s strong opposition, a private bus service between Pakistan and China started on Monday midnight. The Luxury bus service which will ploy between Gulbarg, Lahore & Kashgar city in China’s Xinjiang province, was supposed to begin last Saturday but was rescheduled following widespread violence and protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi in a blasphemy case.

The one-way bus journey shall be of 36 hours and will cost Rs 13,000 per person, and the round trip will be of Rs 23,000.

India’s contention is that the route of the bus passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan region. The initiative has been started under the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Pakistan doesn’t share a border with China. It is only through Pakistan occupied Kashmir, both the nations are linked.

India’s reaction

The route passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir, which India maintains is part of Jammu & Kashmir.

As per NDTV, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “Any bus service passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is a violation of India’s sovereignty and territoriality.”

“It is government of India’s consistent and well-known position that the so-called China-Pakistan ‘boundary agreement’ of 1963 is illegal and invalid, and has never been recognised by the Government of India,” Mr Kumar had said.

Pakistan hails this as a new start of a relationship

“The countries which carry better and convenient means of communication between them have more opportunities of strengthening people-to-people contacts,” said Humayun Iqbal Shami, Chairman of Pakistan Economic Forum.

Started in 2015, CPEC is intended to build infrastructures throughout Pakistan helping it to modernise itself.