SRINAGAR/ISLAMABAD, 21 June 2006 — A second bus service was started between the two zones of divided Kashmir yesterday, a move considered as a boost for the peace process between the two South Asian neighbors.
Pakistan and India agreed to start the service between Rawlakot and Poonch to help reunite families living on either side of the Line of Control (LOC), a de facto border that has split the mountainous region and its people for decades.
“This bus service is bound to strengthen the relationship between India and Pakistan,” India’s ruling Congress party President Sonia Gandhi said as she launched the Indian bus.
Security was tight on the Indian Kashmiri side, where a revolt since 1989 has claimed tens of thousands of lives, as the bus traveled the 10 kilometers (six miles) from Poonch to Chakandabagh on the border.
Poonch was turned into a fortress with sniffer dogs and military explosive experts scouring the route, which was yesterday being patrolled by Indian soldiers and policemen armed with machineguns and assault rifles.
The Indian bus was carrying 66 passengers, 36 of whom are from Pakistani Kashmir who would be returning home after a visit to the Indian zone, officials said.
“I can’t believe I have finally been able to come here to see my uncle,” wept passenger Rubina Bibi, 30, from Jammu in Indian Kashmir, as she arrived on the Pakistani side. She called for special travel arrangements for family occasions.
On the Pakistani side 55 passengers gathered at Titrinote border post before boarding the bus to go just over a kilometer up to the LOC. “This is an unnatural line and separates the Kashmiris. It should be abolished,” said 58-year-old Qazi Bashir, from Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir, as he got on the bus.
“Credit goes to both the governments who allowed us to go and see our relatives.” Passengers from both sides crossed the border on foot before being driven to their destinations by another bus.
The fortnightly service is the latest step in attempts to normalize ties between the neighbors. “This is a good omen for the divided Kashmiri families,” Sardar Sikandar Hayat, the prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, said before the launch of the service.
Around 22 million rupees ($480,000) have been spent in revamping the final 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) stretch of the road on the Indian side to Poonch, including the construction of customs and immigration facilities, a restaurant and a park, engineers said.
The service was originally intended to begin on Monday but Pakistani officials said the schedule had changed due to “technical problems.”
— With input from agencies
