Bus service drives peace process

The scenic Himalayan valley of Kashmir is covered with snow these days, but for Mir Mohammad Farooq, the announcement last week of new bus service between the Indian and Pakistani zones of divided Kashmir was the first sign of spring.

"I want to hug my ailing old mother and visit the graves of my family elders. It has been 18 years," says Mr. Farooq, who lives in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while his family lives in Kashmir valley on the Indian side. "I will relive the Kashmiri spring of my childhood," he says.

There are thousands of divided families like Farooq's living on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) that splits the valley claimed by both Pakistan and India. They have been the ones most affected by the military rivalry between the two countries.

Since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, India and Pakistan, now both nuclear powers, have fought three wars over the territory. And through the bus service, scheduled to begin in April, they may be the first beneficiaries of a new warming trend between Delhi and Islamabad.

Now, as a comprehensive peace dialogue enters its second year, news of the bus link between the capital cities of Kashmir - Muzaffarabad and Srinagar - has lifted hopes of the people of Kashmir on both sides of the border.

"Just after the news, I called my family," says Farooq, who crossed into the Pakistan side of Kashmir from Srinagar in 1977; he's now settled there with his wife and three young children. "My parents were crying from that end and I was speechless here. We don't know whether the tears were for the terrible moments of the past or for the happy moments that lie ahead. It is a miracle."

Farooq is not the only one feeling jubilation. Hafiza Begum crossed the LoC from Srinagar in 1980 as a teenage bridegroom of her cousin, Salahuddin, in Muzaffarabad. "I had never thought that I would be cut off from my parents, brothers, sisters, and friends for so many years," she says.

"I never knew only five hours' journey between us could take almost a quarter of a century for a family reunion due to the rivalry between India and Pakistan," says Ms. Begum. "My family members are desperate to visit me with the first bus."

But the bus faces a tough road ahead. The route itself has been cut into the steep sides of avalanche-prone glacial valleys and follows the Jehlum River that flows through the valley from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar.

Portions of the route closest to the LoC need major repairs and are surrounded by land mines. Officials say strict security measures will be adopted, and repairs and demining will begin soon to ensure that vulnerable stretches are safe before the first ride on April 7.

Page: 1 | 2