Owing to recurrent firing and shelling of border areas by the Pakistani rangers in violation of ceasefire agreement of 2003, thousands of families living along 180 kilometer-long border from Kathua to Akhnoor have been affected adversely. Pakistan’s unabated belligerence has given rise to the ticklish question of providing safe shelter to the affected people on the border who cannot cultivate the land and have to face forced shifting. The authorities are fully aware of their plight and the situation on the border. Therefore a lasting solution to the issue has to be found. Normally security arrangements on the border should have been so efficient and effective that no family was threatened to leave its home and hearth. That is not the case. At the same time, the Government would not like people to be forced to shift often when there is firing. Those living close to the border could need to be allowed to build permanent bunkers and underground shelters for safety during periods of Pak shelling and firing. Although more recent reports suggest that BSF and Rangers have agreed for ceasefire but one cannot repose trust in what the Pakistanis say or do. A clear policy of managing safety of border people along vulnerable sites has to be laid down. Just saying that the Government has no plan of allotment of 5 or 10 marlas of land to border migrants does not answer a situation that exists on the ground. The Government has to have a policy of providing safety, security and confidence to the people of the border.
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