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Friday, Apr 01, 2005

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National

Passengers undeterred by threat

By Shujaat Bukhari

SRINAGAR, MARCH 31. A day after four militant organisations issued a threat to disrupt the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, the prospective passengers have said that they would still board the bus to see their relatives across the Line of Control.

The threat has come as a shock to the divided families, who have been waiting for many decades to see this [the bus service] happen. But they are determined to take up the journey as they have nothing to do with politics.

Ghulam Fatima, 55, who lives in Lal Bazaar, is unable to control her emotions when speaks of her dream of seeing her daughter in Muzaffarabad. "I am really pained about what has happened but I am simply going to meet my daughter," she told The Hindu. "No power on earth can stop me from boarding the bus. I will go come what may."

Ms. Fatima has applied for permit for travel in the inaugural service along with her husband Mohammad Abdullah. "If I am killed let my daughter know that I tried to meet her," she says.

She is desperate to meet her daughter, who is married to her cousin in Muzaffarabad in 1988. "We have not seen her after 1988 as things turned violent in 1989 and there was no chances of meeting her."

Brushing aside the militants' threat, Ms. Fatima says: "You are too young to understand the pain of a mother." Her daughter has four children. "I am dying to see them." She has failed to get a visa for the last 17 years.

Her second daughter, Nazir Bano, has appealed to militants to withdraw their threat. "My parents are desperate to see their daughter," she says.

Same is the case with Syed Zainul Abidin who lives in Shaheed Gunj. "I will not care for the threat. I am not committing a sin, but only going to see my brother whom I have not seen since 1987," says the 63-year-old retired teacher. Mr. Abidin's father, Syed Sardar Shah, and migrated to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1947. Later his brother, Syed Allaudin, joined their father in Muzaffarabad.

"I have been to Muzaffarabad four times but not since 1987," he says. "But this is a golden opportunity for us. Let the politicians fight on their level but we should be left out of this politics."

Another passenger pleading anonymity said: "If they had to ban this should have told us before we applied."

Leakage of names

At the same time serious questions are being raised as to how the names and addresses of the passengers were leaked.

The National Conference president, Omar Abdullah, who has also applied for permission to travel on the bus says: "My particulars are known to everybody but how did they [militants] have access to this information which has not been made public as yet. This is a serious matter which needs to be probed. We cannot overlook this crucial issue as the lives of those who intend to take the bus are in danger."

The Director-General of Police, Gopal Sharma, said the list was issued in Urdu. "Our communication is in Urdu and I do not think it has been leaked here," he told The Hindu. In an apparent reference to the authorities across the LOC, he said that "those who have the information in Urdu might have given." He ruled out the need for a probe on the issue.

Official sources said the list of 29 out of 40 passengers had been finalised for the bus on April 7. They would be given permits in a couple of days. However, three journalists who had applied for the permit would not be allowed to take the first bus. "Priority is being given to divided families," said an official.

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