Faith & hope will be tested against sight of flames, sound of gunfire

‘‘We have handed over everything to Allah,’’ says Mohammad Rasheed, 58. Along with 21 other passengers—six of them his family—Rasheed had been put up in the guest house in the TRC. Officials in PoK had cleared 29 passengers for the first Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus that starts tomorrow and seven of them have already dropped out.

Rasheed is accompanied by his 85 year-old mother, Sher Bibi, his wife, and the family of his cousins. ‘‘Half of our family is across. They live in Mirpur,’’ he says. ‘‘My mother was adamant to go.’’ Sher Bibi nods her head in silence.

When this correspondent enters the guest house, two hours before the attack, there’s no mistaking the security dragnet. After the series of militant threats and the landmines blast yesterday, the TRC is humming with security personnel.

The only ones who look unfazed are a clutch of passengers from Jammu. An elderly passenger from Ajas village in north Kashmir complains of a ‘‘problem in his heart,’’ saying he no longer wants to board the bus. ‘‘I don’t feel well. Then there are problems as well,’’ he says, indirectly referring to the threats. ‘‘You know, it is not just about this bus journey. I have to return home.’’

An elderly couple from Srinagar, Mohammad Abdullah Bhat (60) and his wife Ghulam Fatimah were in their room on the first floor. The couple has half of their family living across, divided by Partition, and a 32-year-old daughter Wazeera who was married off to a cousin in Muzaffarabad in 1988.

After several knocks, Fatimah opens the door. ‘‘I have not been well,’’ she also says. Fatimah is being treated for high blood pressure. ‘‘There has been a lot of tension,’’ she says.

Her husband walks upto the door. And when asked whether they still want to go, Fatimah says ‘‘We have made all the arrangements to go. What can we do now? We just want to see our daughter and grandchildren.’’

Her husband wants more: he wants to meet a relative at Rajbagh and is waiting for permission. ‘‘The police will take you out only in their own vehicle,’’ an official has told him.

There are dozens of armed policemen in the corridor of the guest house. In fact, the entry to the TRC was strictly restricted since passengers are housed inside its VIP guest house. Every person is thoroughly body-searched and allowed only after producing a valid entry pass. Two hours later, the passengers were taken out of TRC in bunker vehicles to the sound of gunfire and the sight of flames. Tomorrow will tell how hope and faith fare in that test.