Peace bus makes history as Kashmiris are united for the first time in over 50 years, writes Sudhanshu Ranjan "April is the cruelest month", wrote TS Eliot, as it "mixes memory with desire". Being the most pleasant month, it generates passion which cannot be fulfilled. But for the people of militancy- infested Kashmir April proved to be the real spring, perhaps better recalling Shelley's "O wind, if winter comes can spring be far behind?". The snow has melted and the Kashmir torn apart since 1948 is healing its wounds and leaving its bitter past behind. India and Pakistan took a path- breaking step by launching a bus service across the Line of Control (LoC) -- a dream come true for the divided Kashmir. The bus journey between Srinagar, capital of Kashmir and Mujaffarabad (capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir), which began on 7 April constitutes one of the most significant confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan. Footfalls across a 200-foot wooden Aman (Peace) Bridge -- the de-facto border between India and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir that was not navigable until a few weeks ago resonated across the Kashmir valley on 7 April as a resounding cry for peace. Thousands of people defied terrorist threats and the Hurriyat -- All Parties Hurriyat Conference spearheading the movement for the independence of Kashmir -- call for a general strike, to give hearty ovations to the first tourists from across the frontier. As the bus carrying people from PoK drove past villages on the Jhelum Valley road, villagers whistled and cheered them on with shouts of peace. Enthusiastic visitors responded warmly by waving back. It was a wet day which otherwise might have signified dampened spirits, but on Thursday it was positively resplendent, appearing to symbolise fecundity and fraternity and promising a better and peaceful tomorrow. It began with a kiss. Zia Sardar went down on his knees, pressed his lips against a land to which he belonged but had never set foot on before. As he stood up, his eyes welled up with tears. "The biggest aim of my life is fulfilled" he remarked. At 2pm Sardar was the first bus passenger to walk across the Aman bridge. Twenty-nine other passengers accompanying him from Muzaffarabad followed, just hours before 19 passengers from the Srinagar bus crossed the metal bridge. At Srinagar Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh flagged off two buses carrying 21 passengers on the inaugural run of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, a process that people believe could metamorphose India-Pakistan relations was set in motion. Singh described the beginning of the new journey as an "answer to millions' aspirations". Later, an elderly couple disembarked due to ill health 4km from Srinagar, leaving only 19 passengers travelling to PoK. Singh called Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf an equal partner in the venture: "We are thankful to Pakistan and its president, Pervez Musharraf, for making the service a reality... The greatest significance is that both neighbours have fulfilled the desire and aspirations of the people of the two sides of the divide... If we work together in this fashion we can achieve a lot... a door has been opened... India was ready to accept Pakistan's hand, and the two countries, hand in hand, can work for the welfare of their people." He noted that the most important aspect of this "bus" co-operation was that the two governments had bowed to the sentiments of their people. In the same fashion, Pakistani-controlled Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, while launching the "peace vehicle" at Muzaffarabad, hailed Manmohan Singh for allowing the re-union of Kashmiris. The buses from the two sides successfully completed their inaugural runs. With receptions all along the 170km route, it took more than eight hours for the vehicles to reach their destinations across the LoC. Divided families were re-united, 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. "I am 80 years old, but now I feel like a 12-year- old," said Ghulam Haider shortly after arriving in PoK. "I have not met my relatives here since 1947. It is a blessing of God that I am here today," he said. On the other side in Baramullah, an emotional Sayed Sherif Hussein hugged his teenage niece, Naseema, who he was seeing for the first time. "After more than 50 years I am coming home. It is the happiest day of my life," said the frail-looking Hussein, who crossed the LoC in 1950 and was never able to come back to his parents, brothers and sisters. "I have seen her only in photographs, she is my niece," he beamed as he held Naseema tightly, adding that he now wanted to bring his children to Srinagar. Tears streamed down the young girl's face as she hugged her uncle. Thousands of people shouting "Long-live India-Pakistan" lined up on the roadside to see the bus pass by. The 30 passengers, who travelled on the first Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus, may constitute a microscopic minority of the 3.2 million people of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, but nevertheless, they carried with them the wishes, aspirations and dreams of the overwhelming majority of people for bonding with their brethren on the Indian side. The convoy of small vehicles that followed the bus was at least three kilometres long. The atmosphere was like that of a street festival to which the authorities never objected. The government declared a public holiday and no one was complaining. A retired Pakistani judge aboard the bus was overwhelmed, "The LoC cold fall like the Berlin wall." Television images of 6 April and screaming headlines in the media about the attack on the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) at Srinagar did not dampen the spirits of either the passengers or the spectators. Terrorists attacked the TRC and set it ablaze where the Muzaffarabad-bound passengers were staying. But the passengers remained undaunted and refused to have the bus journey deferred. At the end of the long day, the general feeling was that for once, it was not about India and Pakistan. This time Kashmir had won. The bus journey has kindled hopes in a battered and bruised Kashmir which was has been divided since October 1947. The international community has hailed the bus journey. United States Ambassador to India David Mulford said, "leaders of India and Pakistan will continue to have our strong support as they resolve their differences peacefully." UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan commented : "The bus service is opening the way to further progress and resolution of all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan." And the Russian Foreign Ministry viewed it as "a convincing proof of effectiveness of sustained peace dialogue between the two nations."
