An endless ordeal for people on ‘live’ border

FEAR LIVES NEXT DOOR Villages barely two to three kilometres away from the zero line and in the direct line of fire have witnessed maximum number of skirmishes and casualties

ALLAH/ARNIA: Over 45,000 people across 42 villages and the most-populated border town of Arnia on Indo-pak border in Jammu and Kashmir see themselves as sitting ducks for Pakistani artillery .

Some of the villages in Arnia sub-sector of Jammu district that witnessed skirmishes from September 13 to September 23 are barely two to three kms away from the zero line and are in the line of direct fire.

Guns on either side of 198-km Indopak border fall silent intermittently, but villagers are sceptical of the fragile peace and live in a constant fear.

The two nuclear neighbours had agreed to a ceasefire in November 2003, which now lies in tatters as different parts of the Line of Control and the International Border whistle to the sound of mortar shelling. The arc has widened but Arnia remains in the constant gaze of Pakistan.

ARTILLERY HORROR

Chuni Lal, 63, a marginal farmer in Allah village, who lost his wife Ratno Devi (50) on the intervening night of September 16 and 17 to a Pakistani mortar, recounts the spine-chilling horror.

“Pakistan was raining mortars that night. All of us… my wife, two married sons, their wives and my six grandchildren had huddled inside a room. Electricity had snapped after a mortar hit transmission lines. Around 2 am I shifted to an adjoining lobby as it was hot inside the room. About half an hour later my wife and my one of daughters-in-law (Rajni Devi) came to the lobby and had just opened the door when a mortar exploded in our verandah. My wife’s left ankle was blown away and she suffered serious injuries in her abdomen, too. Rajni was also bleeding profusely.”

Lal sought a neighbour’s help, who drove his car for nearly two hours to take them to a hospital in Jammu where Ratno passed away.

Besides Ratno, a BSF jawan, Brijendra Bahadur, too, was killed and over a dozen villagers were injured in Pakistani firing that began on September 13.

Lal’s two sons, Om Prakash, 46, and Subhash Chander, 40, work as labourers and do petty jobs to support the family.

TRAUMATISED CHILDREN Subhash’s wife Rajni Devi, who had suffered serious injuries, along with her two daughters Mamta (15), Janvi (13) and son Nitish (9) have been living in a relative’s house in a safe village, away from Pakistan’s firing range and away from their school as well.

Pakistan had rained 82 mm and 120 mm mortars — battalion level low trajectory weapons — on hapless villagers.

“The children are traumatised from what they saw that night. They don’t want to return home and we also are apprehensive of this fragile peace. Death stalks us all the time but we don’t have any option” says Subhash.

GRIM FUTURE

Forget children’s education, the people in the border belt of Arnia are deprived of a normal life, says Subhash.

In Arnia sub-sector, the state government has shut 33 government schools with a total enrolment of around 1,500 students within 5km radius of the border.

Fifty-year-old Gopal Dass, a small farmer in Allah village, says, “Education is important, rather indispensable in present times but how could our children pursue it in such a hostile and uncertain atmosphere?”

Dass points out another aspect of the shelling. “At a very young age, these children get exposed to loud explosions, bloodshed and deaths. It leaves a permanent scar on their tender minds but who cares for the children of a lesser God?”

HT came across a group of small children aged between 5 to 12 years at Pindi Charakan village.

When asked why they weren’t in their schools, six-year-old Tannu replied, “Pakistan bomb chalata hai na. School band hain. Humko chupna padta hai. (Pakistan bombs us. Schools are closed. We have to go into hiding).”

FARMING HIT HARD

Another farmer Rattan Lal, 63, says, “While a family (of Chuni Lal) has been ruined, unexploded shells are still lying in the agricultural fields. The farmers are still not going to their fields because you never know when Pakistan starts firing at us. They cannot be trusted. Initially, heavy shelling destroyed our paddy crop, especially in the fields beyond barbed fence (towards Pakistani territory), and now out of fear, we are not able to irrigate whatever is left.”

Rattan Lal, like several other villagers, feels that they are caught in a Catch-22 situation.

Farming, by and large, is the major source of livelihood in the border areas.

Thoru Ram, 56, informs that though there has been no firing since September 23, the BSF, as a precautionary measure, was not allowing farmers to go to their fields beyond the barbed fence. “Farmers on other side (in Pakistan) are also not coming to their fields,” he says.

7000 PEOPLE, ONE BUNKER

Allah village with a population of 7,000 has only one bunker where 30 people, at most, can take refuge during shelling.

The villagers dubbed it a cruel joke as water seeps in and fills almost half the bunker during monsoons.

“It turns into a pool of water and is of no use. The government has spent Rs five lakh on it but it would have been far better and practical had the government constructed individual bunkers in the houses of the villagers,” says Thoru Ram, 56.

“When mortars are being rained, how could one think of reaching one corner of the village to get into the bunker? I think government of the day should apply some mind,” he mocks.

In Rajouri district, hundred bunkers are being constructed while the state government has submitted a proposal to the Centre for constructing 621 community bunkers at a cost of ₹6 lakh each and 8,197 individual bunkers at a cost of ₹2.40 lakh each.

PAKISTAN’S ARC OF FIRE

Since May 1, when Pakistani Border Action Teams killed and beheaded two Indian soldiers — JCO Paramjit Singh and BSF head constable Prem Sagar — in Krishna Ghati (KG) sector of Poonch district, there has been no let up in Pakistani firing and shelling in Rajouri and Poonch border districts.

In Nowshera sector of Rajouri, incessant Pakistani shelling triggered migration of over 4,000 villagers to six relief camps in Nowshera town in May.

Pakistan also opened other fronts along the international border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts from August onwards.

“It has been a pattern of the enemy (Pakistan). During summers when there is no snow on the mountains and passes, Pakistan tries to push terrorists via LOC in Poonch and Rajouri districts and in winters, their focus shifts to international border in Jammu region, usually Hiranagar, RS Pura, Arnia and Ramgarh. In the process they adopt all ploys of opening unprovoked fire on our posts and then flaring up the situation by targeting villages,” said an Army officer.

A police officer said that Arnia, the largest border town in the state just 3km from the border, is a soft target for Pakistan. The town has a population of nearly 20,000.

“They (Pakistan Rangers) are known for targeting hapless villagers and they know it is thickly populated,” the officer said. However, defence officials say there are other reasons, which can’t be shared in public domain.

A POLICE OFFICER SAID THAT ARNIA, THE LARGEST BORDER TOWN IN THE STATE JUST 3KM FROM THE BORDER, IS A SOFT TARGET FOR PAKISTAN. THE TOWN HAS A POPULATION OF NEARLY 20,000