Hopes rising for Pak, India peace after polls

WAGAH—Every evening as dusk falls on the India-Pakistan border post near Lahore, crowds gather on either side of the frontier and scream slogans at each other in a choreographed show of bravado.
“Long Live Pakistan!” some shout from the stands as patriotic music blasts through a stadium. Similar cries ring out from India, while men on both sides frantically wave flags, trying to outdo each other in nationalistic fervour. Immaculately dressed soldiers then lower both national flags, marking the closure of the border between two countries who have been at odds since independence from Britain and partition in 1947. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
The countries came to the brink of war again in the aftermath of a deadly attack on India’s parliament in December 2001, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. India snapped diplomatic, transport and trade links but in January 2004 the two countries agreed to a peace process which has trudged along since.
Many people who rely on the border crossing here hope that the new Pakistani government voted in on Monday will speed up thawing relations between the historic rivals. India on Wednesday welcomed the elections in Pakistan and said it hoped to see fresh talks with its nuclear-armed South Asian rival.
“If there is a real democracy then there will be a good relationship between India and Pakistan,” said Muhammad Munshi, a 57-year-old Pakistani porter with a long salt-and-pepper beard and blue robes who survives on tips.
“We will earn more money, the labourers will be more prosperous — if there is no activity then we will be earning nothing,” he told. The border town of Wagah has seen many benefits as a result of the peace process between the two nations.
Labourers load brightly coloured trucks with tomatoes coming from India, while dried fruit from Afghanistan heads in the other direction. Trucks have only recently been allowed to cross onto Pakistani soil. So-called “friendship buses” also shuttle between New Delhi and Lahore three times a week, carrying about 45 people, said Shuja Heider Kazmi, superintendent at the brand new customs building at Wagah.
The South Asian neighbours launched the link in 1999. It was suspended following the raid on India’s parliament in 2001, but restored in 2003 when relations improved. That India-Pakistan relations barely featured in Pakistan’s fierce election campaign shows how much the situation has improved. “By the passage of time, it has helped us realise we can have dialogue in a friendly way, not with guns,” said Kazmi.
Monday’s election saw the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto win the most seats in the National Assembly, followed by two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif’s outfit. Both beat the party loyal to President Pervez Musharraf, the former general who seized power in a 1999 coup.—Agencies