SRINAGAR, 8 March 2005 — Kashmiris began queuing-up yesterday for travel permits and the first bus ride in almost six decades to the Pakistani side of the divided region, as Indian officials said the road was almost complete amid demining efforts on the final stretch of road.
The bus service, scheduled to start April 7, is the first tangible fruit of 14 months of dialogue between the neighbors. On Friday officials distributed about 150 permits to be lodged by applicants yesterday.
India and Pakistan agreed last month that Kashmiri residents would not need passports to cross the divided state by bus, instead permits which had been cleared by the police and civil administration, would be issued.
“I am the happiest man today,” said 65-year-old Mohammed Abdullah Bhat after lodging his application at the office of the State Road Transport Corporation in Srinagar. Abdullah said he was eager to cross and meet his brother who lives in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Kashmir’s main city got its first-ever mayor Monday, a month after the front-runner for the post was assassinated by rebels.
Lawyer-turned-politician Ghulam Mustafa Bhat was elected by fellow councilors as the first mayor of Srinagar.
“It’s an enormous task. I’ll strive for development,” Bhat said after taking office.
Also yesterday, troops shot dead six militants during an encounter in violence-racked Kashmir’s Kupwara district, army spokesman R.K. Sen said.
He added the gunbattle started after the soldiers closed in on the militants’ hide-out in Lolab area of Kupwara, 100 kilometers northwest of Srinagar.
“It was a big hide-out and troops recovered large cache of arms and ammunition from there. We did not suffer any casualties,” Sen told AFP.
