Kashmir’s Kaman bridge opens after 6 years for return of drowned couple’s bodies

URI, Baramulla: The Kaman Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, which divides India and Pakistan was reopened on Saturday for the first time in six years but under unusual and tragic circumstances.

According to news agency ANI, the bridge, located in the Uri sector of Kashmir’s Baramulla, was used to facilitate the return of the bodies of a couple who are believed to have drowned in the Jhelum River two weeks ago.

On March 5, the Indian army said, a young man and woman from the villages of Basgran and Kamalkote drowned in the Jhelum River.

The bodies of a 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman had floated across the river, drifting from one side of the Line of Control (LoC) to the other.

The young man’s body was first spotted on the Indian side near the Kaman Bridge but could not be retrieved due to the river’s strong currents and was carried to the Pakistani side, the officials said. The body was eventually recovered near Chinari in Azad Jammu and Kashmir while the woman’s body was found just a day earlier, also from the Pakistan’s side of the river.

After the recovery of the bodies, the Indian and Pakistani military authorities collaborated to ensure the smooth return of the corpses, which led to the reopening of the Kaman Bridge, after six years of its closure as both sides agreed to open it on the humanitarian grounds.

The bodies were officially returned to Indian authorities, with the district administration, family members, and military personnel from both nations present during the process.

“In a demonstration of humanitarian cooperation, the Indian and Pakistani armies coordinated efforts to recover the body,” the Indian army said.