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Journalism of Courage
With the latest thaw in Indo-Pak relations silencing the guns here, this ceasefire has come with a new hope. Prospects have risen of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, once linking the two parts of Kashmir, re-opening and uniting a people divided by history.
Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s offer to open this historic road has been endorsed not only by the Assembly here but also by the assembly in PoK. Understandably, the mood is bullish. ‘‘This is the road of our dreams’’, said Sharief Khan, a village elder. ‘‘If it opens, it will lead the two countries to peace.” He says everybody in these villages has a relative on the other side. ‘‘For decades this Control Line has been there like an invisible wall which has divided us. We don’t even trust our ears when we hear there is a chance that the barriers might be lifted one day.’’
Mohammad Khan points towards the village on the ridge across the Jhelum. ‘‘That village is with Pakistan’’, he said. ‘‘All these years we could hear nothing but the shelling. Now we hear the azaan.’’ The story is the same in every village from Uri, the last town on this road, which still lives in the nostalgia of being a hub of trade in the pre-partition days. It takes two hours to drive down to Uri and as soon the road pierces through Baramulla, it follows the flow of Jhelum on its left bank.
The relief brought by the ceasefire is evident on every face. ‘‘I’ve only seen my relatives in pictures they sent a decade ago,” said Ajaz Ahmad Lone, who runs a bakery. The road isn’t just a harbinger of reunion, it also could return prosperity to this region, says shopkeeper Mushtaq Lone. ‘‘The division of Kashmir has hit us our businesses the most,’’ he said. Village elder Ghulam Din chips in. ‘‘
This road used to be the only link to Kashmir. If barriers are removed, it will take less than two hours to reach Muzaffarabad…apples will reach Rawalpindi in four hours’’, he said. Ahead of the market, the road is empty as it crosses the brigade headquarters. Occasionally, an Army truck passes by. Nothing else breaks the gurgle of the Jhelum.
The security agencies here have estimated it will take three months to clear the mines on either side of the LoC. ‘‘So if there is an agreement in January, next summer this road will be open,’’ a villager said, referring to the SAARC meet.
