‘BUS OF HOPE’ : INDIA AND PAKISTAN
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
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It gives the same feeling as the Berlin Wall collapsing. It signals hope. It gives the message that good is on the way. It tidings that life can be better than it was.
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It is a bus ride. But like no other bus ride. India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the Go Sign for the bus to make its historic trip. It would be a three-hour, 172 km ride for those cheering a journey blessed.
It was a bus run from Srinagar and Muzaffarabad that started today, Thursday, April 7, 2005 — a date to remember henceforth. The Prime Minister referred to it as “just the first step” on a lengthy “peace journey,” according to the Indo-Asian News Service.
“’A door has opened,’ Singh told crowds and top political leaders.”
The bus service bridges “the divided parts of Kashmir for the first time in nearly six decades. It marks a historic milestone in India-Pakistan relations that have been marked by decades of hostility centered over the ownership of Kashmir.”
In other words, some people in this world are just plain tired of fighting. They’re tired of passing on to the next generation hostility compounded. They yearn for peace and comfort, for smiles and embraces, for goodwill between peoples.
Can it be that the United States President George W. Bush started a good thing? Could it be that Operation Iraqi Freedom’s three-week-win war has inspired others to take up the freedom spread? It just might be. The human being wants to breathe liberty. Though despots don’t want to give up their wealth and power, grassroots thinking people are informing them that it’s time to let open the cages.
Now we have the New Iraq with its historic January 30 Victory Vote and National Assembly. Now we have Afghanistan with its first democratically elected president and people-formulated constitution. Now we have a free Ukraine establishing liberties for all its people. Now we have Egypt anticipating open elections forthcoming.
And just as importantly we now have India and Pakistan coming to their freedom senses with a bus ride!
"’(This bus service) will unite brother with sister, people who never dreamt of coming together will do so. This is a bus of hope,’ said Singh.
"Standing under a red-white canopy at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar, the prime minister spoke of the bus being a symbol of both countries, who have fought three wars, coming together for a common cause.
“’This is a great example of India and Pakistan working together. It shows how much governments on both sides respect the emotions and sentiments of the people. What can we not achieve if we work together? There are more difficulties ahead but if we work together nothing can stop us.’”
Joseph Grant Swank, Jr., Pastor, New Hope Church
