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 Peace bus arrives Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus passengers from PoK cross the bridge to India at the LoC at Kaman Post, near Uri, on Thursday. On the billboard in the background is a line from Allama Iqbal: Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna (Religion does not teach us enmity).
A group of 30 Kashmiris, including five women, drove in the first bus a brand-new, lime green and gold coach from Muzaffarabad up to the last Pakistani Army post on the other side of the Line of Control facing us.
After complying with the requisite formalities, the gates were opened for them to cross on foot (one of them an old lady in a wheelchair) the recently-reconstructed Kaman bridge that straddles the de facto border. The bridge had been painted in white to symbolise peace and renamed Aman Setu, or bridge of peace, by the Indian Army. It had been completely dilapidated during the first Kashmir war of 1947.
One of the passengers kissed the soil he was separated from years ago as he set foot on it. There was exchanges of pleasantries, followed by much hugging, and then many of the visitors as well as their hosts were in tears.
The buses from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar and Srinagar to Muzaffarabad headed for their respective destinations earlier on Thursday after being flagged off. In Srinagar, Dr Manmohan Singh addressed the gathering while sending off the passengers to Muzaffarabad. In Muzaffarabad, PoK prime minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan and other leaders of the occupied territorys government spoke at the inaugural ceremony.
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