For handshake on bus, fingers are crossed

Ever since militants issued a threat and even released the passenger list, pressure has increased on officials to ensure that this landmark confidence-building measure proceeds on track.

So today despite popular perception that the test ride of the two 19-seater buses would start from Srinagar, the state government had other ideas. Both the buses were quietly driven to Baramulla late last evening. And today, when drivers Abdul Majid Khan and Khursheed Ahmad started from Baramulla, they took five hours to return to Srinagar from the Kaman bridge, the last point on this side.

A roaring Jhelum on one side and steep mountains on the other, Khan and Ahmad were both shadowed by a fleet of Army and police vehicles. ‘‘We are tense for the bus and the people who will board it. They should reach their beloved family members,’’ Khan said. ‘‘It is a huge responsibility on us. I pray to Allah for success.’’

Said Ahmad: ‘‘I am happy they have chosen me for this auspicious journey but I will rejoice only when I will be able to get the divided families together…Inshallah, we will succeed.’’

The State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) that had kept eight buses and as many drivers ready, will run two buses on April 7. ‘‘These buses will be decorated like brides. They will be as colourful as is the event,’’ said Khan.

Meanwhile, excitement is peaking up in Uri, Salamabad and Udoosa, the last inhabited village on the Line of Control. A peace monument is being erected just ahead of Uri town even as labourers hurriedly rush with cement basins towards the 10-foot-high arched block to be inaugurated as a memorial to this ‘‘new beginning’’ in Indo-Pak friendship on April 7. A fresh coat of green paint is been applied to bus-stops, bridges at several places on the 18-km stretch from Uri to Kaman bridge.

Couplets of Kashmir’s patron saint Nund Reshi with messages of love and peace appear on posters and buntings along the road. Chosen for this event is the poet’s famous couplet: ‘‘Break the sword and forge sickles out of it.’’

But in Srinagar, this excitement is largely indoors. Few passengers turned up to collect their tickets today with empty counters at the SRTC office testifying to the wariness after the militants’ threat.

In fact, a posse of policemen walked up to the counter and collected tickets on behalf of three passengers. The travellers, sources said, are close relatives of a senior J-K police official.

‘‘We were asked by our officer to collect the tickets. They didn’t want to come themselves,’’ said a policeman.

Sources said that 24 passengers of the first bus have left their homes and the government has put them under police escort in a guarded guest house. ‘‘We want to make sure that all passengers are safe. They are under our protection and will leave for the journey straight from here,’’ a senior police officer said. ‘‘We too wish they could stay at home. But their life is in danger.’’

SRTC General Manager Nazir Ahmad Bhat had come personally to sit at the counter. He too was disappointed. ‘‘It is a historic moment so I thought I will come personally to monitor,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the government is taking no chances. Dozens of suspects, including former militants and separatist activists, have been rounded up in Baramulla and Srinagar while hundreds others are under strict surveillance. Sources said orders have been issued to all police stations in Srinagar and north Kashmir, especially along the road, to round up ‘‘suspects.’’

‘‘We are calling them to police stations for questioning. We will not hold them in custody but keep them under surveillance,’’ said Deputy Inspector General of Police, Kashmir range, H K Lohia.