Thousands of residents anxious Everyone living here has a divided family across the LoC as, unlike in the Kashmir valley, people living in this part share a common language and culture with the people living in PoK.
- READY FOR TRAFFIC: The Khari-Rawalakot road, which will become a trans-Line of Control route connecting a number of divided families across of the LoC. The road is motorable till the last point on the Indian side.
KHARI (POONCH): Even two months after the decision to open the Poonch-Rawalakot road was taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharaff, there is no visible progress to give the agreement a practical shape leaving thousands of people living in the border zone anxious.
Days after the decision, the civil administration conducted an initial survey with the help of revenue officers and officials of the Roads and Building Department. The road, which once connected Poonch city with Rawalakot, was a lifeline for the people on either side of the LoC. The survey showed that it would take 39 km to reach Rawalakot. On the Indian side, Salotri, 12 km from Poonch town, is the last inhabited village along the LoC. Beyond it only Army and Border Security Force (BSF) personnel can go. The last five-km stretch from Salotri to the last Indian post is a rocky surface and only Army trucks can ply. It takes 35 minutes to reach the Mendla post, which faces Tetrinote village of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. According to the survey by the Roads and Building Department, it would have taken less than a month to construct the last five kilometre of the road but the work is yet to begin.
Obvious problems
Some obvious problems have cropped up in the construction of the trans-LoC international highway towards Rawalakot. For instance there is a bridge at Madarpur which needs to be constructed on the Pakistani side. This is obviously outside the domain of the civil administration and the matter has to be taken up with the neighbouring country at a higher level.
Also as the tract falls near the LoC, the maintenance of the road is the responsibility of the Army. Army officials point out that since Salotri road is a longer stretch, the Khari-Rawalakot Road, a nearly motorable stretch till the last point, is far more convenient to operate. Unlike the Mendla post, the last Indian Post of Line of Control in Khari, which this reporter managed to reach, is perfectly motorable till the last point. Army officials said opening the Poonch-Rawalakot road through this route was a wiser option.
The unexpected delay in opening the Poonch-Rawalakot road has left the divided families unhappy. Everyone living here has a divided family across the LoC as, unlike in the Kashmir valley, people living in this part share a common language and culture with the people living in PoK. The main reason for the fall in the number of passengers on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, which runs every fortnight, is mainly due to the expectations of the people living here that the Poonch-Rawalakot road would be thrown open for passenger movement. Most of the passengers of the divided families who crossed the LoC belonged to this area.
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