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Kashmiris Seek Trade Route to Pakistan
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A degree of calm has since been restored. The curfew was lifted last week at the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and the separatist leaders were released from jail, although they remain under house arrest. The land-deal controversy was settled, in what many observers see as a draw: The Hindu shrine would be able to use the land during the three-month pilgrimage season but would not own it. The roadblocks that caused the economic blockade have been removed.
Still, the reopening of the road to Pakistan remains a powerful rallying cry among Kashmiris.
"The blockade was really an act of war that left children without milk and patients without medicine," said Yasin Malik, a separatist leader. "It really woke up the business community to what azadi and what self-reliance would mean. It won't be forgotten."
For the Ahmed family, the reopening of the road would mean food on the table, money for schools and safety for the two oldest sons, who ply the dangerous route to New Delhi.
Sitting on the floor of his family's kitchen with his head wrapped in gauze, Wahid Ahmed, 23, and his brother Munir, 24, said they were attacked while trying to bring a truckload of about 100 sheep from New Delhi to Kashmir.
The Indian army said it would escort them, the brothers said. But the soldiers later left them, saying all was safe. Soon afterward, the brothers said, they were pelted with stones by groups connected to India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which was protesting the overturning of the land deal.
"We are afraid to try again," said Wahid, who had 15 stitches. Family members, listening nearby, said they needed the brothers' earnings. "We have no other road to choose," Wahid said. "We just hope things are safe now."
