BJP basks in the glow of peace

When war broke out between India and Pakistan 39 years ago, six-year-old Vasudev Maheshwari and his family picked up whatever they could carry and fled their Pakistani village. But his eight-year-old sister was left behind.

Since then, Maheshwari, now 45, has lived in this arid village in the Indian border state of Rajasthan, harbouring the hope that one day he could cross back into Pakistan to see his sister.

"I hear she is a mother of six children now. Whenever I phone her, she only says, 'Oh brother, oh brother,' and weeps,'' Maheshwari said, his eyes moistening as he sat in his tiny but busy candy shop.

The border crossing between the Rajasthan desert and Pakistan's Sindh province was sealed after the 1965 war. A rail line that had provided a crucial link for the hundreds of thousands of families that were separated in 1947 – when India became independent and Pakistan was created – was closed.

But since Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee set an ambitious peace process in motion last April, India and Pakistan have taken steps to increase what have come to be known as "people-to-people" contacts by resuming bus and rail service between New Delhi and Lahore.

And for the first time since 1965, representatives of the two countries met in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, last month to talk about reopening the border between Rajasthan and Sindh and running a new bus line across the frontier.

The prospect has fuelled hopes of long-awaited family reunions among scores of Hindus and Muslims strewn across five Indian states.

"After such a long wait, I will finally see my sister. There is so much to talk and share,'' Maheshwari said. He has applied for a passport and wants to be among the first passengers to board the bus.

"Every fourth family in this region has close relatives in Sindh. If the road is opened, Vajpayee's party will get our blessings in this election.''

Vajpayee's ruling party, the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is counting on his image as a peacemaker to attract voters like Maheshwari as India began national elections on Tuesday.

In almost every campaign speech, the party's leaders speak about how Vajpayee met with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in January and agreed to resume dialogue on the issues that divide their nuclear-armed nations, including the pivotal dispute over Kashmir.

Both countries claim Kashmir in the Himalayas that has been divided between them since 1947. Kashmir has been the cause of two of the three wars between India and Pakistan, and for the past 12 years, Militants have waged an insurgency in the Indian part of Kashmir.

In the parliamentary district of Barmer on the sandy frontiers of Rajasthan, the unfolding peace process is being closely watched by almost 200,000 voters, many of whom look forward to the new bus service and easy visa procedures for families split by partition and war.

Narsa Ram Meghwal, 60, was born in Pakistan but moved to India during one of the wars and has not seen his family since. "We think alike, dress alike and eat alike on both sides of the border," he said. "But we are separated because of a border."

Meghwal could go to Pakistan on the New Delhi-Lahore bus, but New Delhi is hundreds of miles northeast of here. Starting from here, the trip would be circuitous and expensive. "Going on that route would bury me in debt,'' he said.

Muslim folk singers in the nearby village of Ramsar have revived an old song about a desert train service connecting families separated by the border. They have even added new lyrics about the peace talks between Vajpayee and Musharraf.

"The opening of the border is almost as important for us as bringing water to the Rajasthan desert,'' said Manvendra Singh, the BJP candidate in Barmer. "We have families across the border, so near that it is just a short camel ride to reach them.

But at the moment the journey takes us almost 1,500 miles to reach through the Punjab border, where we could do the same in just half a day.''

The BJP's rhetoric reflects a sharp turnabout for the party, which prevailed in the 1999 elections by tapping into nationalistic emotions generated by a two-month border clash with Pakistan.

But in this year's elections, in which more than 650 million Indians will vote, Vajpayee hopes to draw dividends from peace."We have fought enough. We have no option except to live in peace with our neighbors. There is peace on the borders now, which has not been seen for years.

Bullets are not being fired,'' Vajpayee recently told hundreds of Muslims at an assembly in New Delhi. "If we cannot demolish the walls, at least the windows should remain open. People are now queuing up for visas to visit each other, and this should continue.''

For the Muslims in the Barmer district, who have traditionally voted for the Congress party, the BJP's main opponent, the political landscape looks markedly different.

"Hopes have arisen because of the bus. This is a big occasion for joy, and the credit will go to Vajpayee's party this time," said a local Congress party leader, Amin Khan.