Srinagar-Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus crosses, blurs Kashmir divide

Divided families were reunited, tears and rose petals flecked their faces. The significance of this extraordinary moment lay perhaps in the ordinariness of the backdrop: two buses with 49 passengers had crossed over—and blurred a line that has divided Kashmir for over five decades in blood and prejudice.

Yesterday’s nightmare of the fire in Srinagar, the militant threats, the landmine blasts, the long tortuous process of diplomacy—the dispute over papers, permits—all seemed to have been washed away by the light drizzle at the Line of Control.

On the Pakistan side, beyond the Kaman post, a green banner said: Pakistan se rishta kya, La ilaha il-allah (What you share with Pakistan, there’s no God but Allah). On the Indian side, the banner was adorned with signs and symbols from all religions and the words of Iqbal: Mazhab nahin sikhata apas mein bair rakhna, (Religion does not teach animosity). But today wasn’t a day of divides as the Army bands and bagpipers played the welcome tune. First to welcome the passengers from Muzaffarabad was J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Four hours later, when the Srinagar group arrived, Mufti’s daughter and ruling People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, dressed in a green abaya for the occasion, accompanied wheelchair-bound 85-year-old Sher Bibi and even walked her across the bridge. Photographers had never seen such an image.

Pushed to the wings was fear and cynicism: two constant companions in any journey in these parts. In fact, the three-hour suicide attack yesterday at the Tourist Reception Centre, where the Muzaffarabad-bound passengers were sequestered, draped Srinagar like a cloud this morning. Nine of the 29 passengers cleared for the journey had already dropped out. Two more got off near Panthachok, barely 20 minutes after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged off the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus calling it a ‘‘caravan of peace’’ and the first step in a long but hopeful journey. When the bus reached Pattan, two blasts rocked in the vicinity. The militants had fired rocket grenades that exploded in the air.

‘‘We are scared,’’ said Ghulam Fatimah (55), who was accompanied by her husband Mohammad Abdullah Bhat from Srinagar. ‘‘But life and death are ultimately in the hands of Allah. We have taken this risk to meet our daughter and her four children. We know we haven’t done anything wrong.’’

Fatimah was pushing the trolley carrying her heavy black briefcase. ‘‘I have bought loads of gifts for my grandchildren. I am very eager to see them for the first time.’’

The passengers walking across from PoK were, however, relaxed and jubilant. After Sardar crossed the bridge, he was followed by Choudhary Akhtar. ‘‘I can’t control my emotions. I can’t believe my eyes,’’ he said.

‘‘It is a dream. Let me look around. Let me see.’’

Then an elderly man Sharief Hussain Bukhari walked in. ‘‘I am coming here after such a long time, the last time I don’t think even you were born,’’ he said.

Bukhari, a retired High Court Judge, has his entire family in a small north Kashmir town of Kreeri. ‘‘I have looked forward to this day for decades.’’ Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad Choudhary Liyaqat, who walked with the passengers upto the Immigration and Customs complex, said: ‘‘I personally feel happy today. We had received 12,000 applications and we preferred people with divided families.’’

When the bus carrying the passengers from PoK left Kaman bridge, everything was in contrast to the tension and fear that had accompanied the 19 passengers from Srinagar. Hundreds of villagers lined up along the road, perched on hillocks, rooftops, cheering and whistling, shouting slogans singing the praise of Pakistan. The first stop was Salamabad, 14 km ahead, where the government had organised a luncheon.

‘‘I was born in Srinagar and married off in Azad Kashmir. This is my land and it pains me that I had to wait for three long decades to make this journey,’’ said Fareeda Gani (57), a writer who lives in Muzaffarabad. ‘‘Why are we being stopped to meet our own people?’’

When the bus entered the Valley, the welcome couldn’t have been warmer. Though it was pouring and dark, villagers along the highway to Srinagar had come out with lanterns and gaslamps to cheer.

Authorities had to divert the cavalcade while entering Srinagar city as hundreds of people shouting ‘‘Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan’’ (Long live Pakistan) had blocked the road.