Traders take shine to ancient Silk Road

Kashmiris hopeful route will reopen

SRINAGAR, India - After Hindu protesters blocked the only road connecting predominantly Muslim Kashmir with the rest of India last month, Altaf Bukhari, like many business owners in this disputed Himalayan region, became convinced of the need for an alternative trade outlet.

The most logical solution to the impasse is reopening a historic road that was closed to trade when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. Part of the ancient Silk Road connecting Europe with Asia, it winds from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, to the bustling market town of Rawalpindi, in Pakistan, 100 miles away.

It's a direct route to a city far closer than Kashmir's trading partner of New Delhi, India's capital, about 400 miles away. But several political twists and turns must be navigated before the road can be used again for commerce.

India says it is ready to open the old trade route but has taken few steps to do so. It blames Pakistan for the delay. Pakistan has blamed India. But last week Pakistan proposed a meeting with India to discuss reopening the route as quickly as possible.

Kashmiri business leaders say everyone is watching eagerly. If India and Pakistan reopen the road, it could go a long way toward building confidence among entrepreneurs in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which has seen some of the largest pro-independence demonstrations this summer since an uprising against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

Tens of millions of dollars were lost in the fruit industry alone during the blockade, said Bukhari, an agricultural businessman. Family farms fell into debt, he said, adding that the business community learned how vulnerable it is under Indian rule.

"This blockade has changed our psychology completely," Bukhari said, adding that he lost almost $1 million when his plums, pears, and freshly packed apple juice couldn't make it to Indian markets last month. "India is a good market, but it's now created a fear in our minds."

Along with chants of "azadi," or "freedom," protesters in Srinagar this summer chanted, "Kashmir's market is in Rawalpindi."

"Everyone has woken up to the fact that economic independence would be completely powerful. India can shut us down anytime it wants, and that is a terrifying thing," said Nisar Ali, an economics professor at the University of Kashmir. "Opening the trade route to Pakistan, a nearby and logical road, is an idea whose time has come. Opening the road would go a long way to cooling down temperatures - a long way."

A crisis erupted in Kashmir in June when Muslims launched protests over a government decision to transfer land to a Hindu shrine, saying it was a settlement plan designed to alter the religious balance in India's only Muslim-majority region. After the plan was rescinded, Hindus took to the streets of Jammu city, in the predominantly Hindu part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, demanding its restoration.

At least 35 unarmed protesters were killed by Indian forces during peaceful self-rule demonstrations after the land dispute. .