Daily Times

With the development of civilisation, this world witnessed the division of countries, of culture, of many other things. Sometimes, these divisions created a barrier in human relations. In the same way, the division of India and Pakistan from British India has created a barrier in human relations in these north-most regions where Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh regions were made separate in Pakistan and India respectively. This region was connected by an important route, the Kargil-Skardu road, which was used as a stretch on the Silk Route since centuries ago.
This route was one of the most important routes through which many traders and artists travelled all the way from Tibet to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Being on the way at almost a junction point, this region served the important purpose of trade and stay. Even at a time when we could not imagine motorised vehicles, fleets of people crossed this region and spread the culture of one region to the other. It was a way of exchanging emotions and humanity. This region still has a variety of languages and traditions.
With the divide of countries, this route was closed and travel disallowed. Both regions are now divided by a political Line of Control (LoC). Both sides on the border have a similar kind of geography and culture. Being an area that has its own identity and culture, local traditions and culture are completely different from other cultures in the rest of the country. This similarity unites them as one, despite being situated in two countries.
These two regions have a large number of families who are divided due to the LoC. The number of divided families goes up to 8,000. Being families divided in two countries like India and Pakistan, they do not have access to each other. Political disagreements and conflicts between these two countries have denied their right to meeting each other. They want to meet each other quite often but it hardly becomes possible even for important events like marriages and deaths when they request the authorities to provide visas to travel and attend these important occasions. The reason behind not coming frequently is lack of visa and need for money to travel.
There are few who, when they are able to afford travel and get visa, need to cover much distance over many days. For a person from Kargil, to visit Gilgit-Baltistan, they must travel from Kargil to Delhi for visa and to Amritsar/Wagha and to Islamabad and Skardu. The distance between Kargil district and Gilgit-Baltistan is less than 200 km and it takes approximately five hours while the distance they need to travel to meet each other is approximately 3,000 km.
Recently, when I visited Kargil, a journalist friend invited me to see the two villages near the LoC where one belonged to India and another to Pakistan. These were the two last villages on both sides of the LoC. The distance to cover is less than 100 km, while families are required to cover 3,000 km to reach each other. I have also heard stories about how, in the past, when families met each other, few persons even fainted due to uncontrolled emotions. It is also an unfortunate fact that despite being close neighbours, they are unable to meet each other easily and have to spend a lot of money to see each other. The lands of India and Pakistan will not give them the opportunity to meet.
To start with, the re-opening of this route can bring substantial change to this region. Comparing to other existing routes and possibilities, Kargil is relatively peaceful with no record of ceasefire violations. Except for the Kargil war that happened between the two nuclear powers of India and Pakistan, this region has not witnessed any such kind of hatred. Even today, despite being victims of the Kargil war, people in the region are peaceful and have no enmity towards the other country. It is more about cultural bindings; all boundaries are only political but can become friendly one day to give an opportunity to the two regions to meet each other regularly without interruptions.
At present, the opening of this route will serve many purposes. This is a route that can be open round the year despite all other routes being blocked in winters. This will increase trade options and will help in a significant increase in the economic status of the region. This will help in facilitating families who are divided and can help in recognising true humanity and free flow of emotions. This route may also attract foreign and adventure tourists, and, most importantly, will serve as a conduit between the two nuclear powered nations and their collective efforts in recognising the contributions of the historical silk route in the development of civilisation.
It is high time that both governments initiate actions to re-open this route in respect of people’s desires and collective growth of the future.

The writer is a petroleum engineer, core team member of Aaghaz-e-Dosti and founder of Mission Bhartiyam. He may be followed on Twitter at #ravinitesh