'Politicians have cheated
us, officers are blind to our miseries'
Ceasefire
brings Eid festivity to Uri LoC after 14 years
From Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
WEAK
BRIDGE, ADOOSA (LoC) Nov 29: Last year these days, Brig Ramesh
Halgali, then General Officer Commanding an infantry
brigade at Uri, had brought the veritable boon to Gwalta,
when he inaugurated the electric supply facility to
India’s last village, 2 Km short of the LoC. Exactly
a year after, the announcement of ceasefire between
Indian and Pakistani troops, has restored the Eid-ul-Fitr
festivity to Gwalta and its parallel hamlet of Adoosa.
For all practical purposes, Srinagar-Rawalpindi Road via
Muzaffarabad—which used to be known as the Jhelum
Valley Road in the pre-Partition era—reaches its
dead end here.
The 2 Km-long metalled
stretch from Weak Bridge to the LoC is a dangerous
minefield of the Indian Army and answer to Pakistani
Army’s 4-Km death-trap from the zero-line to Chakoti
town. Perhaps first time in the last over five decades,
the announcement of the ceasefire, made at the end of the
holy month of Ramazan on November 25, has activated the
ultimate speculation: Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC
are eagerly waiting for the minefields to go for ever.
Everyone at this village, which is 114 Km from Srinagar
and just about 50 Km short of Muzaffarabad, sounds
optimistic that Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service would
be restored in near future.
Why are you all emotional
about this bus service? "Our politicians have always
taken our vote and cheated us. They have never fulfilled
their promise of setting up a minor lift irrigation
scheme which would have provided water to our barren
lands", lamented Samundar Khan, resident and Panch
of the nearby hamlet of Dulanja. Mohammad Aslam, Numberdar
of the same village of 230 souls, reveals that not a
single person of his village has been taken into
Government service.
The village, situated on
the right bank of the fatigued Jhelum, is backward and
forlorn in every respect. There are just 3 Matriculate
boys. The highest educated among the females is Akbar
Ali’s daughter, Shakeela, who is a Class 9th student
at a Government High School at Isham. The nearest public
heath centre is at Chakoti, across the 6-km-long
minefields. Whatever the medical problem and whatever the
mood of Indian and Pakistani troops, the residents have
to walk down to Uri township, 14 Km short of Adoosa and
Dulanja on this side of the LoC. "We still feel
lucky. There are villages which have no facility upto the
distance of 50 Km over the rugged terrain", informs
another resident of Adoosa.
These sparsely located
hamlets, situated on slopes of lofty hillocks, have been
the direct target of Pakistani shelling in the last 14
years of Kashmir insurgency. Scores have died and
hundreds got maimed in exchange of the intensive gunfire
between the two hostile armies. "Opening of the road
means an end to this bloodshed. We don’t know
politics. We have no political aspirations", adds
Mohammad Aslam. The Panch as well as the Numberdar
claim "with full sense of our responsibility"
that not a pie of relief or compensation has ever been
given away to the victims of shelling or other natural
calamities in this area.
Samundar Khan describes
Army as "very helpful to the population" but
reveals that the compensation of 365 Kanals of the
villagers’ land—which has been
"forcibly" occupied by Army and turned into a
vast minefield 13 years ago—has not been paid till
date. Javed Iqbal of Adoosa complains that the benefit of
the "Residents on the LoC" has been granted to
villagers, which are 15 Kms short of the LoC "on
selective basis" but not to hamlets like Adoosa,
which are well on the LoC and facing every possible
catastrophe. "In every competitive examination, we
have to sit among the Srinagar candidates, who study at
Burnhall and Biscoe. Where will the jobs come
from?", laments Javed, who is a medical assistant.
Sparsely located villages
of Kamalkote, Dhani Syedan, Sultan Dhaki and Mariyan, all
2 to 3 Km short of LoC, have been the worst victims of
Pakistani shelling. As lately as in September, two girls
died at Sultan Dhaki. Dozens of residential units were
destroyed and cattleheads perished. Officers, according
to Uri residents, have been more concerned about the
reception to be accorded to Ministers and senior
bureaucrats of the "healing touch" government.
70-year-old Mohammad
Ashraf Khan of Dardkote explained how two young sisters
died in Pakistani shelling in his village last year.
Their brother, Mohammad Akram Najar, kept running from
pillar to post in search of some relief from the state
government. His files are gathering dust as not a penny
has been paid to the victim’s family.
Deputy Commissioner of
Baramulla, Dheeraj Gupta, dismisses it all as an
"exaggeration". He said that he himself visited
Sultan Dhaki, Kamalkote and other villages close to LoC
and heard people asking for relief to the moveable
properties damaged. According to him, most of these
incidents have purportedly occurred way back in 1990 and
1991. In most of the cases, no FIR has been registered
with Police. And, finally the people are not entitled to
any kind of relief for damage caused to moveable
properties like cattleheads and household items. Gupta
said that relief of Rs 100,000 is sanctioned in case of
every death caused due to shelling or other kinds of
subversive acts. Besides, relief compensation upto 50% of
the value, subject to a maximum of Rs 100,000 is
sanctioned in case of damage caused to residential
structures etc.
According to DC
Baramulla, it was hard to believe that no relief had ever
been granted to victims of Pakistani shelling in Uri
area. He said that a sum of about Rs 4.50 Cr had been
sanctioned in Baramulla district as relief to cases of
shelling and subversion in 2001-02, over Rs 4.00 Cr in
2002-03 and over Rs 2.00 cr in the current financial year
so far. "Though the details are not readily
available with me, I am sure adequate amounts of money
must have gone to all affected area, including Uri and
Gurez", he said. Gupta informed that such, subject
to clearance from Army and Police, such cases are
routinely sanctioned in monthly meetings of District
Level Co-ordination Committee (DLCC). "In addition
to that, certain amounts of Red Cross funds are also
disbursed among the victims of shelling by concerned
Tehsildars", he added.
Incharge of the Army post
at the 100-year-old Red Bridge, 3 Km short of Weak Bridge
(Adoosa), Naib Subedar N K S Rajawat claimed that the
Indian retaliation has always been "limited and
target-specific". "While as Pakistani troops
fire volleys of gunfire and move their guns in all
directions, we get orders to fire 5 or 6 rounds",
said he. Another officers said that Chakoti was just
under the nose of Indian troops. But, there have been
orders to ensure that no damage is caused to the civilian
population across.
This ceasefire, which has
nowhere been violated in the last four days, has finally
brought relief to everybody in Uri, be that a civilian or
a soldier. In order to ensure that it holds successfully,
senior Army commanders and officials are immediately
under the orders of not making any statements to
mediapersons. GOC of the Uri-based Brigade, Brig S A
Hasnain, is generously available with every hospitality
other than the one of saying anything official about the
ceasefire.
Government school-teacher,
Nazir Ahmed of Isham, and others explained with tears in
their eyes as to how the festival of Eid was celebrated
in areas close to LoC colourfully on Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday. It was after 14 years that there was full
festivity of the occasion. "Earlier, we would
celebrate it with constant fear and sometimes under the
blitz of gunfire. This year, there was no fear",
said he. And for Sepoy Sadashiv Gadade, posted at the Red
Bridge, ceasefire meant 60 days of holidaying in home
state of Maharashtra as compared to 35 he took last year.
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