Youth rides peace bus to his wedding

The first peace bus across the LoC was not just a happy start for India and Pakistan. It also marked the beginning of a new life for this yo...

The first peace bus across the LoC was not just a happy start for India and Pakistan. It also marked the beginning of a new life for this youth who took a ride to reach his life partner.

And today, when Ajmal Basharat (27) dressed up in a cream achkan and walked to Saima’s home, it was no ordinary marriage. It was a celebration of the Indo-Pak friendship. The villagers of Onangam, 4 km from Bandipore town, believe the wedlock has already begun with a good omen. ‘‘The bridegroom took the first bus connecting the two halves of Kashmir after decades,’’ says Abdul Ahad Shah, Ajmal’s relative. ‘‘This is auspicious.’’

Ajmal, however, is not a stranger in the village. He was born in Onangam even as most of his family lived in Muzaffarabad, Gujranwala and Balakote across the border. His grandfather went to Pakistan in 1965, became a Pakistani citizen and returned as a visitor in 1990. ‘‘He remarried there but had no son. So he took me along,’’ he says.

Ajmal studied in Pakistan and after completing his MBA, he took up a job with the Finance Department at Gujranwala. After his grandfather died, he nursed the urge to return to the Valley. ‘‘I always wanted to come. My father, mother and most of the family are here,’’ he says.

Ajmal’s father, Basharat Anwar, a retired employee of the J-K State Road Transport Corporation, says: ‘‘We also missed him a lot all these years.’’

He says the family never thought the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road will ever reopen. ‘‘We were praying the situation improves so that he (Ajmal) could come via Wagah. But God had better things planned for us.’’

The family had a difficult time keeping in touch with Ajmal. ‘‘Letters were the only source of communication but they too became scarce…And the phone calls to Pakistan are still barred so it was impossible to keep in touch,’’ says Anwar.

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The biggest problem was the fear, he says. ‘‘We were scared that if we call or write letters to him, we might get in trouble.”

So when the winds of peace started blowing a year ago leading to a ceasefire along the LoC, it gave birth to a new hope for

Ajmal’s parents and they started thinking about his marriage.

‘‘Saima (Ajmal’s bride) is the daughter of a cousin. We started thinking about getting them married a year ago but the plans were finalised three months back,’’ Anwar says. ‘‘We thought he will come on a visa via Wagah. But the road was reopened.’’

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Saima is in her third year of graduation at Degree College, Sopore. Her father, Abdul hai is a retired headmaster.

Today, Ajmal came with a 60-member barat but there was no one who had accompanied him from Muzaffarabad. ‘‘He (Ajmal) came with only one person, Anwar-ul-Haq, who performed their nikah and returned in the same bus,’’ says a relative. ‘‘Ajmal had to leave on May 6 but he sought extension. Now he is here for another 15 days.’’