NEW DELHI, 8 December 2004 — Displaying some flexibility in its approach toward starting a bus service between parts of divided Kashmir, India yesterday suggested special entry permits along with passports for people using the proposed Uri-Muzaffarbad bus-link. The proposal was made on the opening day of two-day technical level talks on the bus service in New Delhi.
India made the offer to overcome the documentation issue, government sources said. Pakistan’s opposition to the use of passports rests on the premise that Kashmir is a disputed region with the Line of Control (LOC) a temporary line and not an international border.
As people of Jammu and Kashmir have always used the Indian passport for traveling abroad, India was earlier against making any exception with regard to the proposed bus service. The latest proposal for use of an entry-permit suggests India is eager to break the impasse in the bus service.
Though the passport will remain the basic identity document, the entry permit would be similar to visa, the Indian side said. Instead of the passports, entry permits will be stamped.
At the talks, while Alok Rawat, joint secretary in the Road Transport Ministry, led the Indian side, Jalil Abbas Jilani, director general (South Asia) in the Foreign Ministry, headed the Pakistani delegation.
Emerging from the two-hour talks, Jilani said: “The talks were held in a cordial, constructive, friendly atmosphere. We covered a lot of issues. Discussions were very good and are continuing. We will now meet tomorrow.”
Jilani refused to comment on the Indian proposal. “Both sides exchanged their ideas. We will tell you the outcome tomorrow,” Jilani said. While Rawat did not comment, an Indian source asserted: “India is flexible in its approach and wants communication links to be restored as soon as possible.”
Even if the two sides reach an agreement on the documents needed for traveling across the volatile LOC, it would take several months before the bus service actually begins on the 170-km highway. This is because of the bad state of the road.
The road is as unusable as it was in 1892 when Maharaja Pratap Singh opened it, traveling in a bullock-cart. The connection ceased after the first India-Pakistan war in 1947.
No vehicle has driven on it for decades. Even soldiers have to walk across as landslides have cut off the road at several places.
Bad conditions aside, mines were laid along the cease-fire line in 1992 after activists from the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front threatened to march to Indian Kashmir. Clearing the mines alone could take months.
“The road hasn’t been used for years, and its condition right now is terrible. But while it can be repaired, the amount of repair required is considerable,” said Prakash Chand, border post commander.
Nevertheless, even if a beginning is made, it would offer at least a symbolic ray of hope to Kashmiris. Division of Kashmir in 1948 also split hundreds of families, placing them on two sides of the military cease-fire line with no direct communication links. Since the initiation of the peace process between the two countries last year, there has been an increasing demand for free movement of people across the LOC.
The LOC is one of the most militarized frontiers in the world. Until Nov. 26 last year — when both sides agreed to a cease-fire — the two armies used to exchange fire across the rugged terrain daily.
