WITH the opening on Wednesday of the last of the five mutually agreed points for crossing of the Line of Control in the disputed state by Kashmiris, the victims of the monumental tragedy have been facilitated to give moral and physical support to their grief-stricken brethren on either side of an artificial boundary dividing the beautiful valley of Kashmir. The Government of Pakistan supports round-the-clock crossings at all the five points but keeping in view constraints indicated by the Indian the points will be available on selected days for human traffic. Relief goods have already started to be transported from either side of the LOC and the earthquake victims are eagerly awaiting union of the divided families in various areas as per given schedule. The opening the LOC, originally proposed by President Pervez Musharraf, is an historic step and one may look forward to the day when, in the words of the Pak leaders, LOC becomes irrelevant.
The opportunity for expanded people-to-people contacts has been given to Kashmiris in the wake of a catastrophe. The Indian officials have observed that this facility afforded to the people is not for a limited period. In fact, it will help expand social contacts and may eventually pave the way for arriving at a solution of the age-old, thorny issue which is acceptable to all the three parties to the dispute. Berlin Wall eventually disappeared after keeping divided the Germans for over 40 years. LOC artificially divides the Kashmiris and it will go the way Berlin Wall disappeared. This is inevitable more so for establishing peace. The parties shall have to make sacrifices for peace and the current of historical events cannot be reversed. President Musharraf on Wednesday told foreign media representatives based in the Federal Capital that the monumental tragedy had thrown up an opportunity for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and hoped the parties shall seize the moment. The havoc wrought by the natural calamity has helped every one to appreciate that the conflict has humanitarian implications and that this must be ended in the interest of mankind.
The unfortunate millions living on this side of LOC were devastated on Black Saturday. Their brethren on the other side of the Line of Control could have rushed to their rescue and helped them had they not been stopped by the artificial boundary. Despite best efforts by the Pakistan Army and relief workers from other parts of Pakistan and abroad, the survivors waited for days in acute agony and helplessness for any outside help due to collapse of the communication facilities. Things would have been a lot better if Kashmiris on the side of Indian held state could not be prevented from coming to Azad Kashmir for immediate assistance. The humanitarian ramification of the tragedy are too obvious and it is hoped that ego would not stop the rivals from addressing the core issue purely from a human angle.

Deeply disturbing

THE revelation that 173 Iraqis had been abused and tortured by fellow-Iraqis in a Ministry of Interior building in the heart of Baghdad is deeply disturbing. Though some politicians have demanded an international inquiry into this disgraceful crime, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has launched an urgent government investigation. Maybe he feels Iraqis should be tending to their own affairs with minimum outside interference. However the government must realize that an immense amount hangs on the speed, fairness and outcome of this inquiry. That detainees were being kept half-starved, some clearly tortured in an official building, is not in doubt. The questions that need to be addressed are how they got there and when, who arrested them, who continued to imprison them and who authorized or condoned their mistreatment. As soon as the report provides the answers, the authorities must act to arrest and bring the guilty to trial, whoever they are.
It does not matter what crimes the detainees were suspected of committing; they are entitled to proper treatment and due process. Holding suspects in a hellhole where they are tortured and abused smacks of the standard brutality of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist administration. The ending of this ruthless and sadistic state security apparatus was one of the reasons advanced in justification of the war after the original rationale, the WMD, proved unfounded. If such depravities are allowed to return, then all the bloodshed and misery of the last two and a half years will have been for nothing.
It is particularly disturbing that the majority of the distressed detainees found Sunday, when US troops took over the Interior Ministry building, appears to be Sunni. There are allegations that the “security forces” imprisoning them were actually members of the Shiite Badr Brigade militia, who had perhaps infiltrated the ranks of the Iraqi police. It is for this reason that the largely Sunni Iraq Islamic Party has called for a UN-led inquiry. However if the UN can’t step in now, or the Jaafari government does not want a UN role they should ensure that their inquiry team works rapidly and efficiently gathering and sifting the evidence. Maintaining its independence in the face of inevitable political pressure will be extremely difficult. But everything, including the trust of Iraqi Sunnis, hangs on a just and fair outcome, followed by the arrest and trial of anyone suspected of crimes.
Iraq was brutalized for 35 years. Many saw the collapse of Baathism as an opportunity for payback time for the terrible injuries they had suffered. But as moderate religious and political leaders have repeatedly made clear, imitating the wickedness of Saddam’s dictatorship will not build a free and just pluralist Iraq; it will only guarantee its descent into civil strife and yet more bloodshed and misery. This investigation must end with the truth. Too much is at stake to risk a whitewash.

—Arab News