Date:06/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/06/stories/2005100607711200.htm

National

So near and yet so far for the divided

Luv Puri

To meet relatives just 6 km away in PoK, travel by the Uri route will take two days

Majority of Pahari-speaking communities on either side have not met for decades

People continue to prefer Wagah route

MANJAKOTE (RAJOURI): A majority of the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir have not yet been united with their relatives across the Line of Control as the much-hyped Uri-Muzaffarabad road is of little use to them. Most of the families continue to travel by the Wagah route in Punjab, which is not only cost-effective but also saves time.Manjakote, near the LoC, best depicts the fate of the majority of divided families in the Rajouri-Poonch belt. Every household in this Pahari-speaking village has a relative in Pahari-speaking Dandote in Pakistan- occupied Kashmir, six km from here. But a majority of these communities have not met for decades. Says Abdul Rahim Jamwal, whose brother lives five km from his village across the LoC: "For travelling to my brother's village, it is a one-hour trek whereas the Uri route would take me more than two days. I would prefer the Wagah route through the India-Pakistan international border which would take seven hours to reach PoK."

The former PoK President, Sardar Abdul Qayoom, who came to the country to participate in a seminar last month, refused to enter the State by the Uri route.

He said it made no sense to take that route to visit his paternal house in the Rajouri-Poonch belt, just a few km from his house.