Tuesday, June 14, 2011

INDO-PAK RELATIONS: The other Kashmir!

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SHUJAAT BUKHARI / The Hindu          OPINION » OP-ED June 14, 2011.

STUNNING FACE: After the devastating earthquake in 2005, the face of Muzaffarabad has been transformed. Much of this has to do with aid pouring in from West Asia. Photo: Shujaat Bukhari
STUNNING FACE: After the devastating earthquake in 2005, the face of Muzaffarabad has been transformed. Much of 
this has to do with aid pouring in from West Asia. Photo: Shujaat Bukhari / The Hindu.

Impressions after a second visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. What is striking, though, is the strong support for India-Pakistan Confidence Building Measures.
For a journalist working in Jammu and Kashmir, the Kashmir on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC) is always on top of one's mind. I have been fortunate to visit the area that Indians know as Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), and Pakistanis know as “Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” (AJK) twice. The first time was in 2004. A conference organised by “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” University last month gave me the opportunity for a second visit.
As a resident of Baramulla, I should have been able to make it to Muzaffarabad, the capital on the other side, within five hours by road, had the governments of India and Pakistan allowed our three-member delegation to travel on the much-vaunted cross LoC bus.
However, the walls between the two sides built over 60 years forced me to travel via Delhi-Lahore-Islamabad — the journey thus took me almost three days.
Nevertheless, this longer route was interesting in itself. The 180-km Islamabad-Muzaffarabad road reminded me of the winding Srinagar-Jammu highway, while the mountainscape and the gushing waters of the Jhelum resembled Patnitop and the waters of the Chenab.
Entry point...............................
Some voices..............................
Muzaffarabad and Srinagar........
CBMs.......................................
01) Kashmir has been the sole obsessive issue for some on both sides, ignoring the bilateral trade, cultural exchange and common economic development;
02) We invite the World's largest Arms dealer to arbitrate, whose main business is 'Arms Sale' as 'Arbitration' is not a profitable business.
03) Fools are those Neighbours who invite outsiders to settle the disputes!

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