In what is being perceived as a win-win situation for both India and Pakistan, both the countries agreed on February 16 to commence a bus link from April 7, 2005, between Srinagar andMuzaffarabad, the respective capitals of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Pakistan occupied Kashmir(PoK).
While much of the hype surrounding the decision is on expected lines, given the current 'honeymoon', as the media would have it, between Delhi and Islamabad, it has been made amply clear that this confidence building measure(CBM) does not, in any manner, change the stated positions of either country on the status of J&K. Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, noted in Islamabad on February 16 that "It is a humanitarian procedure that we have adopted." The bus would bring together sundered families and communities living across the Line of Control(LoC) and International Border (IB).
The proposal for such a service was first floated in July 2001 during the Agra Summit between the then Prime Minister, Atal BihariVajpayee, and Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf. The Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway, known in the Kashmir Valley as the Uri road, was closed in 1947 after the formation of Pakistan. Prior to Partition, the approximately 170 kilometre highway was the only road that connected Kashmir with the rest of the world. The road commences from Srinagar and reachesMuzaffarabad, via Baramulla and Uri in India, and Kohla and Kotli in Pakistan.
The route has significant historical importance. While the 16th century Mughal emperor,Akbar, is believed to have once marched into Kashmir through this route, the road was also the main trade link between Kashmir and the rest of the world, linking the Valley with Afghanistan and China.
Humanitarian considerations have been paramount in this decision, and the opening of the bus link will allow many Kashmiri families, on both sides, to visit each other frequently. Over time, it may also help boost the economy of the region. For instance, if there is an agreement to send fruits, a mainstay of the Kashmiri economy, to Muzaffarabad through this route, this could plausibly open several new trade avenues.
Politically, J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has expressed the opinion that, once the people of PoK start coming to India, they would see that people in the Indian side of Kashmir were much better off. TahirMohiuddin, editor of the Srinagar-based Urdu weekly, Chattan, notes, "There is a lot of propaganda in PoK that Kashmiris in India are not allowed to pray and are very poor. Once they come here and see, it will be an eye opener for them." The free movement of people, it is believed, would allay misconceptions about each other on the two sides of the Line of Control(LoC). It is useful to note, in this context, that many Pakistan-based Jehadi groups are headquartered in Muzaffarabad or have 'camp offices' in the area.
While this "mother of all CBMs" as one Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official expressed it, has been hailed as the boldest peace move between the two countries, terrorist groups, unsurprisingly, have been vocal in their opposition. TheAl-Mansooran - a front organization of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) - claimed that the bus service deal was due to political compulsions. "The agreement reached between the two countries on the bus service will have no bearing on the ongoing struggle in the Valley," said UmerMukhtar, a spokesman of the outfit.