Harried passenger demand renaming of Poonch-Rawalakote bus service

Abhishek Aijaz Qazmi
Poonch, Jammu, April 11—Notwithstanding the hype surrounding the Poonch-Rawlakote bus service, the Indian passengers are harried lot once they cross the Zero point and reach the other side of the border in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
The Indian passengers, board the bus from Degree College, Pooch and once they reach Zero point on the line of control, they are dropped off to cross over to PoK, where they are made to pass through Pak Immigrations and Customs.
Once through these formalities, the elated Indian visitors are happy to reach Pakistan occupied Kashmir but the reality sinks in only when they do not find any connecting service to reach Rawlakote town, a distance of 48 kilometres from the Customs and Immigration office.
Neither a government bus service, nor private vehicles are available to the Indian visitors to reach Rawlakote, said Mohd Din, a resident of Mendhar, who was on a visit to meet his family members across the border.
Critical of the manner in which the passengers are being treated, Mohd Din said, “The Poonch-Rawlakote bus service should be renamed Poonch-Zero point bus service”, adding once the passengers reach PoK they are left to the mercy of elements.
The travellers were also critical of the Indian government over its refusal to ease the communication facilities with PoK. The problems are compounded by the fact that people from this this side can not make phone calls across the border to their relatives, said Farooq Din, another passenger, who returned from PoK, after visiting relatives.
“Our relatives do not know when we are coming as we can not contact them, as such they are not able to come to pick us after crossing the border”.
Once the passengers reach Pakistan, there is no one to receive us and it is after a great trouble that private conveyance is arranged, he added.
The passengers, however, appreciated the transport arrangements made by J&K government, which has provided JKSRTC buses to ferry the passengers across the border.
Here it must be mentioned that the Poonch-Rawlakote bus service was flagged off by UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi alongwith Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee in on June 20 in 2005.
Launch of this bus service was a long pending demand from the locals of both sides as it drastically rescued the travel time. Earlier the people intending to visit the other side of Kashmir had to go from Muzaffarabad.

Hill Kaka warriors feel orphaned, rue decision to fight terrorists

Poonch, Jammu,India—They defeated the nefarious designs of the terrorists in Hill Kaka and fought neck and neck with the Indian Army during the operation Sarp Vinash but now they are feeling orphaned.
The people of Kalali, Do Phalli, Chapra and Telgi Katha-all villages enroute Hill Kaka are ruing their decision to fight the highly trained terrorists enconsced there. The reason for the desolation of these people is the reported movement of the troops from these villages, where army pickets had been set up to provide security to people since 2003.
According to sources, !6 Rastriya Rifles which was posted in the area has been shifted and as a result the villagers have been left to fend for themselves. Perturbed over the shifting of Army pickets from the area, around 120 Village Defence Committee members, who took an active part in anti-insurgency operations allege that they are being treated as cannon fodder by the government. “We fought against the terrorists alongside the security forces and because of our support terrorists were crushed in the area”, they said in unison, adding that they have become easy targets as army has left the area.
“We fear a Kalakote like massacre in the area as the army has moved out like it happened there”, they assert. Most vulnerable among these villagers are the 20 women VDC members, who are trained in handling and using the weapons. These women feel that absence of army will definitely give an upper hand to the militants and allow them to set up base here.
A resident of Dophalli, Razia Begum said “I have fought against terrorists when I should have been tending the family and the household all because we had faith in the Indian establishment”, adding “we feel orphaned in the manner we have been left at the mercy of terrorists”.
During the crucial fight in Hill Kaka it was our men and women, who provided crucial information to security men, which led to a resounding victory for the Indian Army. The residents of the area warn that the absence of armed forces in the area could be very dangerous not only for the people but strategically as well. “If the terrorists return, they will hit us hard”, said an angry Imtiaz Ahmed, a VDC member, who has worked extensively against the terrorists.
Listening to the fears of these people, it can be safely assumed that if the faith of these people is lost than India will be losing their most strategic asset and best friends which she got in the militancy infested country.

Majority community forces construction of mosque in Mendhar

Jammu, Mar 24—Curfew was clamped in the border town of Mendhar and Army was called on duty as violence erupted over the construction of a mosque.
The tension was aggravated when a mob of three to four thousand men from majority community forced its way on the disputed site and started work of the mosque.
Earlier, the already tense situation in the town turned violent today as people from majority community fought pitched battles while trying to enter a disputed site.
Several shots were fired by the police in a bid to stop the crowd from starting construction work on the site. Both sides indulged in stone pelting for close to an hour and around forty persons including 30 policemen were injured.
According to eye witnesses, all the efforts of the police to pacify the mob turned futile as people forced their way on the site and construction work was commenced as security men turned mute spectators.
A mehrab and a room were constructed as part of the mosque today and three to four hundred persons are still present at the site till last reports came in.
Adding fuel to the communal flare up, local MLA Javed Rana turned up with a large entourage and paid Namaz-I-nafal and also announced a grant of Rs 50000 for the construction of the mosque.
As per sources, the disputed site comprises of 14 Kanals and 7 marlas out of which ten kanals belong to one Mahesh Chander, who belongs to the minority Hindu community.
1 kanal and seven marlas of this land belongs to one Mohd Ibrahim and rest 3 kanals is state land.
Sources here revealed that this was basically a land dispute between two above said persons and has been given a communal touch with the purpose of grabbing the land.
As per reports, Deputy Commissioner Poonch Mohd Ramzan Thakkar, SSP Poonch Jagjit Kumar and Additional SP Tahir Bhat are camping in Mendhar to defuse the situation.

Invasion of Kashmir 1947

Most original Kashmiri conflict newsreels have been lost. This piece was shot in November 1947, three months after Independence. Indian Army troops are shown landing at Srinagar airport. They were sent counter tribesmen opposed to the Maharajah of Kashmir's decision to accede to India.