Another barrier on LoC falls

The first Poonch-Rawalkot bus in 58 years rolled across the border this afternoon. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, flagged off the bus carrying 30 passengers from Poonch to Rawalkote on PoK, as the large crowd present cheered.

The first Poonch-Rawalkot bus in 58 years rolled across the border this afternoon. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, flagged off the bus carrying 30 passengers from Poonch to Rawalkote on PoK, as the large crowd present cheered.

They had every reason to be jubilant, for, thousands of families, divided by the LoC after the 1947 war, were from Poonch.

Also present on the occasion today were J-K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister for Water Resources Prof Said-ud-Din Soz, former J-K CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and Jammu Kashmir National Panthers Party chief Bhim Singh, besides ruling coalition ministers and legislators.

Right from Poonch town to Chakan-Da-Bagh the starting point for the bus service, the 10-km-long road was adorned with the tri-colour, buntings and hoardings. People in thousands arrived to see off passengers as the Poonch-Rawalkote Express left the border town.

Flagging off the Rawalkote-bound passengers at the customs complex here, Sonia Gandhi said that ‘‘another wall between India and Pakistan has fallen.’’ The first was when the Uri-Muzaffarabad road was opened.

Describing it as yet another step towards peace and friendship, she congratulated CM Ghulam Nabi Azad for making the event happen as per schedule by facilitating and arranging all logistics and infrastructural requirements taking personal interest. The plying of buses would not only provide opportunities for divided families to reunite with their kin, but also help develop people-to-people contact and create an atmosphere of love and friendship, she added.

The road, an important trade link before partition, had been closed following the 1947 war.

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Elders recall that people even from Jhelum (now in Pakistan) used to come to Jammu Kashmir via this road.

Chakan-Da-Bagh was among five points identified by India and Pakistan for supply of relief material and enabling divided families to have people-to-people contact across the LoC in the wake of October 8 earthquake.

Although the first consignment of relief material was sent across the border through this point on November 7 and the first crossing over of people from both sides took place a fortnight later, there was neither any roadlink nor bus service.

Rather, people had to cover long distances on foot to reach the nearest motorable road on either side of the border.