COMMENTARY
Softening the Line
of Control
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Three alternative routes are better than the
road between Srinagar and Muzafarrabad which New Delhi has
offered to open.
The opening the Srinagar-Muzafarra-bad road
network is one of the confidence building measures (CBM’s)
offered by the Indian government to Pakistan on 22 October.
This has been projected by analysts and the media as a giant
step towards solving the problems of millions on either side
of the Line of Control (LoC). However, these gushing and effusive
commentators, perhaps keen to highlight the magnanimity of
the centre’s Kashmir policy, have not paused to consider
the ground realities before rushing to the conclusion that
some act of humanitarianism has been performed.
The idea of ‘softening’ the border
between India and Pakistan along the state of Jammu and Kashmir
is not a new one. It is an old idea that is being revived
in a new context. The case for it is based mainly on humanitarian
grounds, which are supposed to be above political considerations.
The primary argument is that it will help families, currently
divided, to reunite. These divided families are a permanent
peculiarity of the illogical division of a society between
two countries based on no particular principle other than
the fact that the line of separation represented the respective
militaries’ state of control as on a particular day.
When the state of Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two halves
between India and Pakistan on 1 January 1949 and the ceasefire
line announced, families were divided, by a line, based on
the territory held. In short, the separation was on a completely
random basis. Since then, various proposals have surfaced
from different quarters to open up the Jammu and Kashmir border.
The campaign for soft borders with ‘Pakistan-held-Kashmir’
has been led by various Kashmiri leaders who have dominated
the political spectrum of the state ever since its partition.
The tallest Kashmiri leader of the last century, Sheikh Abdullah
had also pressed for opening of the border and continued this
demand after his dismissal from power in August 1953 till
his death in September 1982. It was one of the main demands
in the manifesto of his National Conference Party for the
assembly election of 1977. The Mirwaiz of Kashmir, Maulvi
Umar Farooq, has also been a strong proponent of this idea
on the humanitarian ground that divided families long to reunited.
He cites the example of his own family, which was divided
in 1947.
Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed while
repeating this demand has linked it with the ultimate aim
of restoration of peace in the state. The thrust of the campaign
to soften the border has been to allow the movement of men
and vehicles on the famous Rawalpindi-Srinagar road, which
connects not only Pakistan-held-Kashmir with Indian Kashmir,
but also with the Punjab province of Pakistan via Muzaffarabad,
the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. But the emphasis on this
route has been at the cost of ignoring other parts of state,
which were also divided in 1947 and for whom the opening of
borders would have much greater utility and appeal.
It thus becomes necessary to examine the other
possible routes for facilitating the reunion of divided families.
The Kashmir valley, which has a very distinct identity, is
dissimilar to the culture prevailing in Azad Kashmir on the
Pakistani side. Before 1947, only Muzaffarabad district of
present-day Pakistan-held-Kashmir was in Kashmir province.
The rest of the districts of Pakistani Kashmir were either
in Jammu province or in the frontier province of Ladakh and
are now called Northern Areas in Pakistan. Even Muzaffarbad
district, in linguistic and cultural terms, was closer to
the Jammu region. After 1947, Pakistan kept the entity of
Kashmir symbolically independent. For instance, the head of
the state is known as the president and head of the government
is known as the prime minister. The power centre in Azad Kashmir
is the roost of Muslim Rajputs, proud of their martial past.
All of them are non-Kashmiri speaking and have close ties
with the border districts of Jammu region.
Mangla Dam: Mirpur’s nemesis. |
During the partition of India, large scale
migration of Muslims took place from the region to Pakistan-held-Kashmir
and also to other parts of Pakistan, quite apart from the
numerous families which were forced to live on either side
of the LoC. In the plains belt of Jammu, most of the Muslim
families migrated to the Punjab province of Pakistan. For
the last 50 years, the families on both sides have been trying
hard to remain in touch with their relatives across the border.
But since Indo-Pak tensions have become an increasingly frequent
phenomenon it is difficult to do so. Today, in fact, even
in the less stressful interludes between the periods of tension
there have been cases where the death of a relative has been
conveyed to the kin after a gap of weeks. Just recently the
case came to light of a woman from Sialkot in Pakistan (11
km from Jammu) who had come to her parental house on the Indian
side during her pregnancy (a common practice) more than two
years back and has since not been able to return because of
continuing tensions following the 13 December 2001 attack
on the Indian parliament (as a result of which travel between
the two countries was suspended). Tales of such tragedies
in the region is unremitting. The opening of the Suchetgarh-Sialkot
road across the international border would provide immediate
relief to thousands of families who would otherwise have to
take a much longer route to cross over. As the border in that
segment is in the plains, the larger road network would make
travel easier.
The number of divided families in the state
is far more in the hilly belt of Jammu ie Rajouri-Poonch than
they are in the plains. The Line of Control here not only
divided the territory, but also villages and even individual
houses. The illegal movement of families across the LoC has
been a regular feature of life since partition. As the terrain
in hilly areas comprises creeks, mountains and numerous passes,
people have been illegally going across the border on both
festive and tragic occasions. The situation has changed now.
As the maximum infiltration of militants takes place in these
tracts, security has become very tight. The movement of families
across the LoC has decreased dramatically as a result of increased
security patrols, but desperate attempts to cross the line
are not at all uncommon.
The softening of the borders will provide immediate
relief to the Muslim families of this hilly region. Even the
Hindus on the Indian side of the LoC have a nostalgic desire
to visit the areas they left on the other side. In the pre-1947
era most of the area was part of the Jammu province. Mirpur
was the largest constituent of Azad Kashmir and comprises
the tehsils of Bhimber, Kotli and Mirpur. The district lies
on the famous Mughal road, passing through Mirpur-Bimber-Rajouri,
which was the main artery connecting the state with the rest
of the country. The present relationship of Mirpur with the
rest of Pakistan is quite unsettled. In the 1960’s the
Pakistan government built the Mangla dam in Mirpur which ended
up submerging the entire town of Mirpur.
This encouraged the expatriation of people
from Mirpur, many of whom settled down in large numbers in
Britain and who have continued their protest against the construction
of Mangla dam and its recent extension. Prior to that, in
the midst of the partition riots, several thousands of Hindu
Mirpuris had to migrate from their ancestral homes and had
to settle down in different parts of Jammu province in India.
Since then, their numbers have increased to several lakhs.
Even after over 50 years of sustained tension between India
and Pakistan the sympathy of Hindu Mirpuris for their Muslim
counterparts remains at a very high level and they express
their support to the latter in the struggle to save their
home land from the effects of the dam.
Of the other areas similarly affected, Poonch,
in 1947, was the only district of the state which was itself
bifurcated between the two countries. It was, therefore, the
worst affected district. Many Muslim families were separated
from each other. As a result, ties with the other side were
never broken until militancy surfaced in the state,. So high
was the level of contact that even marriage parties used to
go from one side to the other, a phenomenon that was rarely
witnessed in other parts of the region.
Since Jammu has the maximum number of divided
families as compared to any other part of the country, opening
three roads in the region, namely the Suchetgarh-Sialkot road,
the Mirpur-Bimber-Rajouri or Mughal road and the intra-Poonch
route, would best serve the cause of reuniting divided families.
The special importance of these three roads on ethnic, emotional
and humanitarian grounds can hardly be disputed. Since security
is an obvious consideration, needful precautions along those
lines can be taken fairly easily. As a first step, since restrictions
on general movement of people will be imposed, at least genuinely
divided families should be allowed to meet so that their distress
does not remain hostage to the hostility between the two states.
In the longer run, when the security environment permits,
cultural bridges between the two parts could be built through
these roads, failing which much headway will not be made since
temporary peace, as and when it is restored, will be all too
fragile. Opening the Jammu borders would not only solve a
major humanitarian problem of the Subcontinent but will also
go a long way in cementing the cultural bonds between the
two countries at the level that matters in everyday terms,
between people.
– Luv Puri
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