15 January 2004	Thursday	22 Ziqa'ad 1424

AUTHMUQAM, Jan 14: With the silence of guns along the Line of Control (LoC) after the ceasefire, reconstruction work is picking up and normal life is returning fast with the resumption of transportation service on the Neelum road , earlier closed to vehicular traffic due to intense Indian shelling.

"We are very happy to resume normal business after the ceasefire and pray to God that this cessation of hostilities from the Indian side becomes a permanent feature," said Ali Khan, 54, who have lost two sons to enemy fire in recent years.

He was talking to a group of media representatives, who visited Neelum Valley for the first time in eight years, here on Wednesday. The trip was arranged by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The road running along the natural LoC, River Neelum, remained closed for almost eight years due to heavy shelling and was recently opened after Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali's announcement of unilateral ceasefire which was reciprocated by the Indians side.

Earlier, people used to travel in the night to avoid enemy shelling, said Mr Khan, adding that they had to visit even hospital in the night and could not hold funeral gatherings in the morning because the enemy always fired on them without any provocation.

The media group was airlifted in two Mi-17 helicopters to land at Nauseri for their onward journey towards Authmuqam by road. It stopped briefly at Chilliana and Jumber while crossing the Leswa mouth through which people used to travel back and forth to Muzaffarabad from Authmuqam before the ceasefire.

The residents of Authmuqam have recently started repairing their damaged houses and other government buildings damaged in the Indian artillery fire. "We are re-building the tehsil headquarters hospital which was destroyed due to the heavy firing. We are also constructing a college in the area with the help of the locals," said Col Syed Habib Shah, the area commandant at Authmuqam.

The reconstruction process had started at Authmuqam, tehsil headquarters, after 14 years, he said. Earlier, at Chilliana, some 156km away from Islamabad, schools and markets were opened after the ceasefire. The enrolment of students in schools has also increased substantially.

There are many families in Chilliana having blood relations in village Tithwal, in the Indian held Kashmir, just across the River Neelum. There are some meeting points where separated family members could meet after two senior military officials decide the time and date in a flag meeting. However, these meetings are not a regular feature.

"I have an uncle living in Tithwal, but I have never seen him in my entire life, though I would love to meet him," said Muhammad Shafi, 27, who lost his left eye during enemy firing in 1985.

At Chilliana, Brigade Commander Vigilant Brig Waqar Iqbal Raja told the reporters that the language, culture and religion of the people living on the two sides of LoC was same, but they could not meet.