Aman Setu (Kashmir): There was disappointment in store for the relatives of the passengers who had boarded the Srinagar Muzaffarabad bus.
The Union External Affairs Ministry had announced that 15 Kashmiris were to crossover to India through the Kaman bridge on Tuesday.
However, due to the ?communication gap? between the Indo-Pak external affairs ministries, the Kashmiris did not turn up at the Kaman bridge.
A group of Pakistani army officers, led by Major Haseeb met Lt Col John Shahji of 7 Dogra regiment and said they had no information about the 15 Kashmiris returning to India and that no crossover will take place.
Twenty-year old Mohammad Irfan, who was present at the bridge was ecstatic at his grandmother returning home. Standing beneath the now ravaged Aman Setu or ?the peace bridge?, Irfan and his friends look anxiously towards the pathway that led towards PoK.
Irfan says even though he had come to the bridge several times, it felt different this time as he was here to greet his 72-year old grandmother, Gulab Jan. "If at all she is alive," he quips.
A porter with the army, Irfan had purposefully registered himself for Kaman to lift relief material. He wanted to reunite with his grandmother at the first possible point soon after she walked into the territory.
Irfan's grandmother and 15 others stranded Kashmiri passengers who had boarded the bus to Muzaffarabad to meet their kin, were to return through the Kaman bridge.
A disappointed Shafiq Ahmad, who had come to receive his aunt all the way from Tangmarg village said, "Radio announcements said that the passengers are coming, but now I have to return home alone."
The Army and civil administration had made all arrangements to receive the passengers from PoK at Kaman. These included snacks, refreshments, and medicines.
Abdul Gani Reshi was another one of those who were disappointed by not seeing their relatives. He said, "My maternal uncle had died in the earthquake. We were here to receive my father, but have to return dejected. The two governments should have spoken to each other before announcing the crossover."
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