The Hindu : National : `Open routes, let the people be united'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 01, 2005

National

National

`Open routes, let the people be united'

Staff Reporter

PANJOT (POONCH): The decades-old animosity in this last Indian village towards Pakistan is melting and the thousands of people there are looking forward to the opening of routes along the Line of Control (LoC).

This remote village is surrounded by Pakistan on three sides.

Not only has the situation on the LoC changed, the public sentiment has also undergone a transition.

During Operation Parakaram in 2001-02, in which thousands of soldiers were deployed along the LoC, the sentiment was for an all-out war against Pakistan. Villages in the forward areas were the worst sufferers in the sudden India-Pakistan military flare-up.

Explaining the turnaround in local sentiments, says Jasbir Kour, a teacher of Government Primary School: "We have suffered the most in shelling by Pakistan. We want peace given a chance. Let the routes be opened and the people who share the same language and culture be united."

In October 2002, Ms. Kour was hurt in mortar shelling. A splinter pierced her body and she was in bed for more than a year The enthusiasm among the people can be gauged from the pressure for opening up all routes along the LoC.

Hundreds of hamlets are divided in Poonch town, which is surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on three sides.

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