KAREN, Dec 27: Dozens of divided Kashmiri families on Thursday watched their relatives across the Neelum River in held Kashmir being pushed and stopped by the army and paramilitary personnel from getting close to the riverbank.

The scenes were observed from the Karen village, where the divided families had arrived from different refugee camps in Muzaffarabad since the morning to speak to their relatives on the held side of the nearly 25-metre wide river.

However, there was disappointment and distress for them as the Indian authorities ordered their men to prevent the meetings.

“I have been here for the past two days to felicitate my parents and siblings but the Indians are not allowing anyone of them to come close to the riverbank,” Omar Hussain, 22, told Dawn. The tearful man stared at his house on top of a hill across the river, where his relatives were dancing in the courtyard to celebrate his younger brother’s wedding.

“One of my cousins tried to come close to the river, but before she could utter a word an armyman pushed her back,” he said.

Mr Hussain swam to Azad Kashmir in March 2001 to escape Indian repression and married here. He had travelled to Karen with his wife and sister-in-law.

Indian and Pakistani authorities allowed divided Kashmiri families to greet each other after a ceasefire along the Line of Control, which came into effect on Nov 26.

For over a week, the divided families would daily flock to the village with gifts, mostly cookies and sweets, to be tossed across the river to their relatives, who would do the same.

However, the meetings came to an end on Dec 8 after the Indians stopped the Kashmiris on their side from assembling near the riverbank.

This correspondent saw dozens of army personnel patrolling in held Karen.

“The Indian army is beating those who try to get closer to the river. They are not allowing meetings. Nobody knows why?” a 10-year-old boy who dodged the army personnel shouted from across the river.

“Look, the Indians are not allowing a father to greet his son and a sister to greet her brother,” refugees’ leader Raja Izhar Khan said while pointing to his sister’s house across the river.

He had led people in three vehicles from the Kamsar camp.

Shafiq Ahmed, 37, shouted to his aged parents across the river but as his father tried to come closer to respond, a plainclothesman drove him back with a stick. “My heart sinks on seeing this cruel treatment of them,” he said.

In a desperate attempt to have a chat with relatives, Mr Khan suggested in a loud voice that the wedding party pass along the riverbank and it took a closer route.

The drumbeat became fast and people on both sides started dancing to express jubilation.

The groom waved to his brother and others on the Pakistani side as women sang wedding songs. But the party was pushed back.

“It is ironical that we see delegations from India and Pakistan, including film actors and actresses, visiting each other almost daily after the peace initiatives by their countries,” Mr Ahmed said and added: “But they have not passed on the benefits of such overtures to the Kashmiris.”