9 April 2005	Saturday	29 Safar 1426

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SRINAGAR, April 8: When three-year-old Farida Gani’s parents took her with them on a business trip from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad, the family expected to be home in a few days.

It took the girl 57 years to make that return journey, her lawyer father and mother died before they could. During their trip their Himalayan homeland was partitioned and they were stranded in Azad Kashmir.

This week, Gani, along with 50 others, made an historic trip across the military line that divides Kashmir to be reunited with long-lost relatives on the other side.

On Friday, a day after she arrived in Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir, Gani, a writer, met her cousin for the first time, and the tears just would not stop.

“I am delighted, overjoyed ... these are tears of joy,” Gani said as her cousin embraced her. Other relatives showered rose petals, almonds and candies in a traditional Kashmiri welcome.

Neighbours lined a narrow lane in a congested area in downtown Srinagar to receive Gani as she arrived with her younger brother — also a writer, born in Azad Kashmir — to their family’s nearly 100-year-old ancestral house.

“I went with my dad and our choice was to come back to be with our families, but we were not allowed,” said Gani, dressed in embroidered green gown and green headscarf, in a reference to the bitter rivalry that engulfed the two sides after partition.

“I was waiting for this moment for years. God has finally answered our prayers ... we are together. It’s a miracle,” said Abdul Rashid Rantoo, Gani’s cousin.

Rantoo, 50, a trader, said a traditional Kashmiri feast of rice and lamb dishes had been prepared for Gani and her brother Mehaboob for their first meal at home.

Held Kashmir has been torn by a bloody revolt against New Delhi’s rule since 1989 and separatist militants had threatened to kill the passengers on the historical bus trip.

“After the militant threat I was scared. But my wife encouraged me to come here,” said Mehaboob. “It is an extremely beautiful part of the world.”

Kashmiris have hailed the bus service as a step that could help resolve the longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan and bring lasting peace to South Asia.

“Militants should reconsider (their stand),” said Shameema, Rantoo’s wife. “Kashmiris are entitled to visit both parts of Kashmir to meet our loved ones. It is our birthright. There is no politics in it.”—Reuters