Road to happiness

The reason for the euphoria isn’t far to seek: In this part of Jammu, the Poonch-Rawalakot route has the same resonance as the Uri-Muzaffarabad road does in Kashmir, bringing people and opportunities within touching distance across the LoC.

At Jallas, the border village seven km from Poonch, direct-to-home services brought the news that the 1947 route would see life again. Ahead of Jallas, at Salotri—the last Indian village—the panchayats are already making lists, with demands for a separate bus topping the list.

It’s just an announcement yet, but for the people here, the road is already a foreseeable reality. After all, Uri-Muzaffarabad happened, didn’t it?

Between Jallas and Salotri, every third family has a connection across the border. Like 70-year-old Makhan Singh, who raises his hands in prayer every time ‘‘Poonch-Rawalakot’’ is mentioned. ‘‘It is a divine coincidence, our prayers are being answered,’’ he says, as the sounds of the azaan wafts across the border.

With an elder brother settled in Jhang in Pakistan, Makhan Singh has been across twice—in 1987 and again in 1994—both times through Wagah. ‘‘Now the distance will be reduced to… 17 km,’’ he calculates.

Trade, too, is looking up. Som Raj Sharma, who used to cross over the border till 1947 to sell goods at Rawalakot mandi, recalls that the maize, grains and rajma produced in this region fed villages like Madharpur, Hajira, Dwarandi, Seri, Palandri, Rawalakot—all of which are now in Pakistan.

‘‘Now, the trucks will again go this route, and our fields can feed them again,’’ he says.

Jallas sarpanch Satwinder Kumar Sharma, on his part, is happy that the region will finally be rid of neglect. ‘‘For instance, we don’t have an allopathic health centre in the villages. The only high school and the middle school has not been upgraded for the last 35 years,’’ he says, adding that the road will not only link people but also aid development.

At Poonch town, 14 km away from the villages, Abdul Hamid, a retired district sessions judge, points out that frequent migrations after 1947, 1949, 1965 and 1971 divided more than 60 per cent of the families in Poonch. ‘‘In fact, I would say this is an even more vital route for divided families than the Uri-Muzaffarabad road,’’ he says.

No wonder, then, that locals began submitting memoranda demanding the reopening of the Poonch-Rawalakot road even before the Kashmir route opened up. ‘‘We have also been talking to people to gauge the mood,’’ says Poonch SSP Mukesh Singh.

There couldn’t have been too many surprises on that front.