Munir Ahmad stood at the end of a serpentine 1.6km long queue yesterday, waiting to collect registration forms for a long awaited mobile phone service in India's troubled Jammu-Kashmir state.
Mobile or cellular phones were banned from the disputed region for years because Indian authorities feared Islamic rebels might use them in their insurgency.
However, New Delhi has eased the restriction as fighting decreases and relations with rival Pakistan improve.
India's state-run phone company will launch the service in Jammu and Srinagar, the state's winter and summer capitals, on Aug. 27, officials have said.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is expected to visit the state that day to inaugurate the service, a government official said on condition of anonymity.
Thousands lined up outside the phone company offices to sign up on the first day of registration.
"This is going to be a tough wait but I am prepared to wait for three hours," said Ahmad, a 22-year-old college student.
"It was long overdue. We felt that we have been ignored. But at least this feels like India considers us its part and parcel," said Qazi Faiz, a stage and television actor waiting in the line.
The state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or BSNL announced Sunday that 13,000 connections will be given in Srinagar, Kashmir's main city with a population of more than 800,000, during the first phase. The same number of connections will be given in Jammu, a city of nearly 400,000 people.
The entire state will get 52,000 mobile phone connections and more will be granted during coming months, officials said.
Subscribers pay 1,700 rupees to 3,700 rupees (US$36 to US$79) to register.
Mobile phones are sought after in most of India, where it can take years to get a landline installed.
Khizr Mohammad, a local businessman, has been waiting for a wired telephone connection since 1998.
"I am here to book a cellphone because I have a better chance of getting one than a landline," he said as he neared the registration counter after waiting for five hours.
"I just cannot wait to hear the jingle of my cell phone. I am so excited!" said Tahmina Dar, one of the few women among the thousands waiting outside the telecom office.
Rebels have been fighting for Indian-controlled Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan since 1989.
More than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the militants, a charge Islamabad denies.
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