SRINAGAR, 20 October 2005 — Residents of Indian Kashmir yesterday made the first direct phone calls to the Pakistani side of Kashmir in 15 years, trying to find out what’s become of loved ones since the massive South Asian quake on Oct. 8, sources said.
India announced Tuesday it would lift restrictions on telephone links to the Pakistani zone of Kashmir. New Delhi cut communications between its Indian Kashmir and all of Pakistan in 1990 in an effort to stymie an insurgency there. Pakistanis can, however, still make direct calls to Indian Kashmir.
The first call was placed by Abdul Gani, 65, from the police control room in Indian Kashmir’s summer capital of Srinagar to Muzaffarabad, capital of the Pakistani zone, police and witnesses said.
“I was very happy to know that my relatives are OK,” Gani told reporters after the call. He also thanked the Indian prime minister for allowing the service.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened personally to restore phone links after repeated demands from across the social spectrum in Indian Kashmir where divided families were frantic for news of relatives after the 7.6 magnitude quake hit the region.
The state-run Department of Telecommunications has set up four telephone centers — two in the worst-hit districts of Uri and Tangdar, officials said.
Centers were also opened in Srinagar and in Jammu.
“These centers will permit people in Jammu and Kashmir (state), who have relatives in Muzaffarabad, to contact them on the telephone, free of charge, for the next fortnight,” India’s Foreign Ministry said.
Politicians, residents and officials hailed the government’s decision.
“We welcome this humanitarian gesture,” said Mehbooba Mufti, the head of Indian Kashmir’s ruling People’s Democratic Party in Srinagar. “This service will bring immense relief to the thousands of people who have their relatives across the Line of Control (LOC) and are desperate to know about their welfare,” she said.
The LOC demarcates Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. The earthquake left towns and villages flattened in Pakistani Kashmir and in the two frontier sectors of Indian Kashmir.
More than 1,300 Indians died and 117,000 homes were razed or damaged here, while over 48,000 perished in Pakistani Kashmir where 3.3 million survivors are homeless.
The quake also badly damaged telecommunications infrastructure in Pakistani Kashmir, from where people had been able to call Indian Kashmir.
“The opening of these free centers will bring huge relief to people like me,” said 35-year-old Altaf Ahmed of Uri town.
“I want to know about Tajamul Hussain, my cousin and his family. We are very anxious,” he said.
Indian authorities said the facility would be available for 15 days initially.
On Manmohan’s instructions the federal telecom department at the weekend also allowed people to make phone calls to the Pakistani zone of the region through a prior booking system called trunk calls.
Four rebels and two civilians were killed in three shootouts in Indian Kashmir, officials said yesterday as they probed the killing in broad daylight of the region’s junior education minister.
The killings came after two militants penetrated Srinagar’s high-security Tulsi Bagh area Tuesday — and shot dead Education Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone, two police guards and a visitor.
One of the attackers was also killed, while the other managed to escape.
“The government will probe as to how militants managed to enter the high-security zone where a majority of ministers and top bureaucrats reside,” said Kashmir’s Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma.
