ISLAMABAD, 17 February 2005 — Pakistan and India yesterday agreed to start the first-ever bus service connecting the capitals of divided Kashmir, in a real breakthrough in the yearlong peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Shouts of joy were heard on both sides of the cease-fire line in the disputed Himalayan territory after the announcement at a joint press conference here by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kausri and his visiting Indian counterpart Natwar Singh that the service would begin on April 7.
The bus service between Muzzafarabad on the Pakistani side and Srinigar on the Indian side along a rutted mountain road in the folds of the Himalayas will reconnect families separated for decades. It also raises hopes that these two countries which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 might one day find a permanent peace.
The agreement came after India dropped its insistence that passengers on the Kashmir bus should carry passports.
Kasuri said travel would be granted through an “entry permit system” once the identities of travelers are verified. “Application forms for travel will be available with designated authorities in Srinagar and Muzaffarabad,” he added.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said it would be open to all Indians and Pakistanis, not just those from Kashmir.
Singh also met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who welcomed the deal and praised the “flexibility and statesmanship” shown by the two sides, a Foreign Office statement said.
Musharraf hoped the two countries could resolve the rest of their differences the same way, it added.
Singh’s visit is the first bilateral trip by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 1989 and is part of a dialogue to bury 57 years of hatred between the South Asian nuclear-armed rivals. The deal has been in the works for months, but its consummation was still dramatic and the most tangible success from more than 14 months of peace talks that have seemed stalled at times.
“We have come a long way over the past year or so. I’m convinced that cooperation between our two countries is not just a desire and an objective, it is in today’s context an imperative,” said Singh, who was wearing a sheepskin hat known as a Jinnah cap after the founder of Pakistan. “The people of both countries clearly desire it.”
It is a welcome change from the rhetoric of the past few weeks, which have seen New Delhi and Islamabad squabble over a dam India is building on its side of Kashmir.
While speaking positively of the future, Singh cautioned that any progress could only be achieved if attacks in the region are curtailed. “Of course progress can only be sustained in an atmosphere free from terrorism and violence,” Singh said.
“We had discussions on the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir and have impressed upon the Indian government for an early and final settlement of the issue in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” Kasuri told the news conference.
An independence leader in Indian Kashmir, Javed Mir, praised the agreement and said he hoped it would lead to a wider peace deal. “It will be an inaugural step toward resolving the dispute,” said Mir, leader of the Jammu-Kashmir Liberation Forum. “The problem is so complex that it cannot be solved in one go, but such meaningful steps will help.”
“It is the biggest confidence building measure in Kashmir in decades,” said Muzaffar Beigh, finance minister in Indian Kashmir. “The bus will open the hearts and minds of people living on both sides of Kashmir.”
On Pakistan’s side of the region, residents had mixed reactions to the deal, with some saying it was a step in the right direction, and others warning it was merely window-dressing.
“It’s great. Now I will travel to the Indian portion of Kashmir to see my relatives,” said Khalid Dar, 38, an employee at the state electricity department. “I never imagined the two countries could reach such a decision ... I will travel on the first available bus to Srinagar.”
The road between the two capitals is narrow and in disrepair in some stretches, and it passes through villages damaged countless times by cross-border shelling.
Pakistan and Indian authorities will have to build a bridge over a dry stream near the military dividing line because the pre-partition wooden bridge is decayed.
Singh also said other bus services would be re-started between Amritsar and Lahore, the twin cities of Punjab in India and Pakistan, respectively. Some routes for religious pilgrims would also be started up once officials had worked out modalities. In addition, India has proposed that a rail line between two border towns in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh and the western Indian state of Rajastan be reopened in October.
Also on the agenda in the Islamabad talks were discussions about a $3 billion, 2,600-km gas pipeline from Iran which has been delayed for years, mainly because of Indian security concerns over running the pipeline through Pakistani territory.
Singh said the two sides had agreed to look into the possibility of supporting the pipeline, providing Indian concerns about security and an assured gas supply from the pipeline were addressed.
Singh said in meetings between now and July, Indian and Pakistani officials would work to finalize agreements on pre-notification of missile tests and memorandums of understanding between the two countries’ coastguards and counter-narcotics authorities.
Officials would also hold discussions on pacts for reducing the risk of nuclear accidents and preventing accidents at sea, he said.
Singh — who arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday from neighboring Afghanistan — also met with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
An accord on the bus service and agreement in principle on what is dubbed “the pipeline for peace” would go a long way to allay Pakistani impatience with India’s more gradual approach, analysts say.
“Pakistan and India have absolutely no alternative other than talking and finding solutions to their problems,” said Professor Abdul Gani Bhat, a leader and spokesman in the All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
“They have to open up roads, they have to open up trade between themselves, and above everything else, they have to resolve the dispute,” Bhat said in Indian Kashmir.
— With input from agencies
