By IRNA,
Islamabad : India and Pakistan opened trading route on Tuesday between their divided zones of Kashmir after 60 years, raising hopes that the revolt-hit region could see a major drop in tensions.
It is the first time that trucks rolled between the two zones created in the bloody aftermath of independence of the subcontinent from Britain six decades ago, when the region was split into India and Pakistan.
“The step will go a long way to cooling tempers in Indian occupied Kashmir,” said Tahir Mohiudin, the editor of Urdu-weekly Chattan in occupied Kashmir, where a insurgency has raged since 1989.
The countries, who have fought two of their three wars over occupied Kashmir, are to resume trade across the heavily militarised Line of Control, a key demand of Kashmiris who this summer led some of the largest-ever anti-India demonstrations in the region.
The weeks of protests began over a row to provide land to a Hindu pilgrim trust, sparking Kashmiri Muslim anger.