|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Hope in Kashmir as India, Pakistan talk on reopening historic bus route SRINAGAR, India, Tuesday (AFP) Indian and Pakistani officials were due to hold talks on opening a bus route between the divided zones of Kashmir after the prime ministers of the nuclear rivals pledged to carry forward peace talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited New Delhi last month to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to the inter-Kashmir bus service which is seen as an integral part of the peace talks. "If the two countries succeed in opening the bus service, the peace process will move ahead at a good pace," said leading Kashmiri journalist Tahir Mohiudin. "If the talks fail, the chances of the process moving forward would recede drastically," warned Mohiudin, who this week returned from a tour of Pakistan and the zone of Kashmir under its control. The bus service between Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-controlled part of the scenic Himalayan region, has been a long-pending demand of families divided on both sides of the volatile de facto border also called the Line of Control (LoC). The bus service was stopped soon after a short war between India and Pakistan in 1947. But since January this year, when a peace process ended over two years of tension, the countries have been discussing the possibility of restarting the service if travel document issues can be resolved. Pakistan is opposed to residents in its area of Kashmir travelling on passports and visas, according to Mohiudin. They fear it would amount to accepting the LoC as the permanent border. The LoC is one of the most militarised frontiers in the world, and until November 26 last year the two armies used to exchange heavy artillery and mortar fire across the rugged mountains daily. India and Pakistan last year agreed to a ceasefire along their borders bringing peace to border towns like Uri, 100 kilometers (63 miles) west of Srinagar. Kashmiri separatists opposed to Indian rule are also not in favour of passports for travellers. Hardline leader Syed Ali Geelani, based in Indian-controlled Kashmir, is emphatically opposed to the service. "It will be detrimental to our freedom struggle," said Geelani. The bus service is aimed at bringing together families that have been cut off from each other for decades during which they have relied solely on letter writing. The other option is spending days in New Delhi to get a visa and then travel to Wagah - the only land-crossing between India and Pakistan - and then to Pakistani city of Lahore, from where they travel to the Pakistani zone of Kashmir. "Everyone in Uri is confident the bus service will start soon," said Imtiaz Hussain, a medical student. "But we are keeping our fingers crossed and praying for sanity to prevail between the two sides during the talks," he added. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
