Across the Line of Control

Poonch: Seeing is always believing –this is not only an adage but a central principal of confidence building measures between India and Pakistan, that people divided at the birth of a nation are seen to be undergoing a sea-change in perceptions with the increasing frequency of journeys across the line that divides Jammu and Kashmir into two parts.

Ghulam Ahmed Durrani, 66, had arrived here through the Line of Control on April 8, with lots of suspicion and fear. His permit for stay was for 15 days. The suspicion in his mind was about the practice of Islamic faith which he was told for several decades is not allowed in this part and the fear was about the “atrocities unleashed” by Indian security forces.

During his fortnight-long stay in this border town, Durrani now has an altogether different perception about the ‘State and Society’ in this part of Jammu and Kashmir. He is so comfortable here that after the lapse of 15 days, he requested for another one month extra. And as the May 22 deadline is approaching for his departure, Durrani, a retired school teacher, is genuinely longing for a little longer stay.

The sexagenarian, who is meeting his nephew’s family after 59 years, is particularly moved over the diverse and plural character of the local society. At a wedding two days ago, Durrani could not believe how Hindus and Muslims took part together in the whole ceremony.

“I always had this impression that people here are not allowed to offer namaaz. But during my stay here at the break of every wee hour when I hear the sound of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ from the loudspeakers atop several mosques I go into deep thought as to why this animosity is stretching on,” he wonders.

The old fellow from across the divide says, “Now there is no big desire pending.” He will leave Poonch few days later, but the excitement seen in the eyes of the locals here is still far more than what Durrani bears. The way they are waiting for the opening of the Poonch-Rawalkote bus service has little parallel. “That would be perhaps the biggest moment of my life when I board the Rawalkote bus to meet my relatives in Kotli,” says Haji Ahmed Din whose eyes get moist soon after he finishes with these words.

Badly damaged and in disuse since the ’71 Indo-Pak war, the Poonch-Rawalkote road is being spruced up and the landmine stretches sanitised for the bus service between India and Pakistan to be launched on June 19.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been urged by the Jammu and Kashmir government to inaugurate the bus service at the border town of Poonch, official sources said. This is the second such service after the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad link that began in April 7 last year, the first cross-border bus link after 57 years. The 20-km Poonch-Rawalkote road is way shorter than the 170-km Srinagar-Muzaffarabad one. The road will have more meaning for the divided families of the state as most such families live in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region.