Hajitra, a village, in Karnah, in Kashmir Province, has been ‘illogically divided.’ It used to be part of Muzaffarabad district before 1947. The divide between the two countries has proven costly for the dwellers here as the Indian troops posted on the borders have dug land mines in the land owned by the residents here which has cost many lives besides leaving scores of people handicapped. Prior to the war of 1947, the families living in the two villages belonged to the same house, but are now divided by a barbed wire or a piece of barren land.
People, particularly women folk living on this side have woeful tales to narrate. From the developmental point of view, the area is completely neglected as the area remains cut off for months from rest of the state. The village lacks proper road connectivity, water supply and health care facilities
Shareefa Jan, from Hajitra village in Karnah is the victim of the land mine blast, which had been implanted by the army, in the plain field of the area. The area is situated near the ‘actual line of control’.
“I had gone to collect some logs of wood from the mountain. I least knew that I will return handicapped from the place. I had no idea that Indian army had lodged land mines in the area,” narrates Shareefa Jan.
“After the blast I was taken to Army hospital and then shifted to Bone and Joints hospital, Barzulla, Srinagar, but all in vain. They cut my leg up to my knee,” Jan said.
The incident not only left the 50 year old Jan handicapped but has created a void which still haunts her.
“The painful aspect of the incident is that my husband left me after my leg was amputated. I am struggling alone for survive and to feed my son.”
Jan has been living with her parents where she barely meets both the ends. The ‘compensation’ from government is Rs 400 which is given to this destitute section monthly, by the Social Welfare department. “But the irony is that I have to spend Rs 300 on transport to collect this meager amount.”
Like Jan, there are other women who have suffered due to the skirmishes between the two countries.
Shabnam, lost her right eye, after she took her heard of cows to the mountains. Shameema Begum another victim of the border hostilities, ears were damaged due to heavy shelling in the area.
“I was busy with animals on mountains but the troops posted on both side of the borders suddenly started exchanging heavy shelling which prompted me to run for life. I managed to run to save my life but at the cost of my right eye. My life is ruined.” said Shabnam.
“She is not getting any marriage proposals which has added miseries to her life and has put her ailing father under depression,” said a local about Shameema.
Being situated at LoC, the area is under control of the Indian army and locals here have no access to their fields, the women of the area lamented.
The women said they were forced by circumstances, to give up going to the mountains for collecting wood and taking animals for grazing.
“Our voices have remained unheard. We are confined to these surrounding mountains. No one is ready to hear our painful tales,” they said.
The interactions were marked by emotional outbursts by the participants who longed to meet their loved ones living on the other side of the bank, being demarcated as the line of control in Teetwal.
Safia felt the divide between the two countries is impractical as due to this divide her brother had been barred from attending the marriage ceremony of his niece. Amidst tears, she shared that,
“At the time of marriage ceremony of my daughter, my brother who is living on the other side of the divide kept watching from the bank of the river. He couldn’t come to this side but helplessly just waved at us and left. We had communicated to him about the ceremonies through a telephonic conversation.”
The women shared that the families split between Indian and Pakistani administered Kashmir barely meet each other. We can’t call the “other side” but only receive calls on their landlines.
Rakhela Begum said, we see some of our separated family members on the other side of the bank on the day of the “crossing” which is held fortnightly under the security blanket.
“We all sit on the both sides of the river and can only see our separated ones but can neither hear each other due to the gushing sound of flowing river, nor meet. It’s a painful situation and most of us keep wailing and crying helplessly as the river flows.”
The participants shared that earlier there used to be some leniency for the local people on the day of crossing as such people would exchange gifts with their loved ones like, some eatables and dresses, which they would try to hurl to the other side of the bank.
Though most of the gifts would land in the river but the people wouldn’t give up and would continue hurling coconuts and such items across the river banks to their loved ones.
“Now things are different as security has been tightened on these posts. The number of people using this as travel point is decreasing due to the hassles of security,” locals said.
Another serious concern raised by the participants in the meeting was that due to the security blanket, too many army posts and check points have been erected and has cost the village many precious lives as people are not allowed to ferry patients without the permission of the Army posted in the area.
“In case someone falls seriously ill in the village, we are not allowed to move out of the village and are dependent on security personnel’s permission. We can ferry patients to nearest hospital only if the army personnel opens the gate,” said Safia while recalling how she lost her father when army didn’t open the gate for three hours as they were looking for their senior officer for permission.
“If they don’t open the gate patients die on way. My father was ill and we had to wait for three hours due to which my father died near the gate.”
Teetwal is a village around 200 km from Srinagar and the area, known as Karnah. The Kishenganga River flows here: On the left bank is Teetwal in Kupwara, Kashmir, on the right bank is the village of Chaliyana in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.
Prior to the war of 1947, the families living in the two villages belonged to the same house, but are now divided by a river and a border.
For visiting Teetwal, proper permission is needed from the concerned authorities. The journey is tough in many ways as one has to go through many checks enroute by the Army and Border Security Forces (BSF). Many check points and army posts have been put up in the area.
Surveillance by Army and other agencies is a routine in this area. As such to reach out to women in this area, which is a “locked area” was a daring but much-needed step.
In Uri sector, Gwalta is amongst dozens of “locked villages” located alongside the Line of Control where documents indicating purpose of visit, authorization from district administration, the concerned SDM have to be presented before permission to proceed to the can be given.
The residents of many of these villages like, Silikot, Chunda, Dulanja, Balkot, Jabda, Madiyaan, Muriyaan, Golahan and Gwalta, have to deposit their identity cards at the check post, before leaving and entering the village. An iron gate is present in the fence, manned by armed soldiers, to regulate the movement of these villagers. These are the “locked villages” of Uri.
Gwalta is one such village, home to 360 families and approximately 2300 people. Life for the inhabitants of the village is difficult.
“Living here is a curse,” expressed Baseera, whose legs bear the brunt of the border hostility. She is a landmine victim. “We are stuck between India and Pakistan.”
Sixty year old Shareefa Bibi shared a compelling narrative of her life. Despite being the mother of three sons, at this age she is still forced to work in fields and graze the cattle alongside the LoC where the landmines are planted by army for security reasons.
Faced with the economic and social issues, the villagers run their lives at this caged place where the forces and government spies roam freely to maintain psychological pressure and vigil over its inhabitants.
“If only one could choose where to be born, who would choose to be born here? Though there is no physical harassment but we are under continuous vigilance all the time. A psychological pressure is being built on us besides the restriction on our social movement by the forces,” shared a lady.
Interestingly, the village along with so many other zero line villages is also out of bounds for the outsiders and only people with special permission issued by authorities can visit.
According to Indian official data, there were 347 ceasefire violations in 2013; 583 in 2014; 405 in 2015; and 449 in 2016. Pakistan’s official data accuses India of 464 ceasefire violations in 2013; 315 in 2014; 248 in 2015; and 382 in 2016. But 2017 saw a manifold increase in the number of ceasefire violations, if both countries’ data is taken into account.
Between allegations and counter allegations, between the two countries, the ceasefire violations has increased which, for civilians living on both Indian and Pakistani sides has increased the, human and economic cost.
In the above interactions, when I asked the women what changes they would like to make, if they could, to improve the quality of the life they are leading- the women in unison responded,
“We are desperate to breathe in peace. We are not bothered which side of the divided line we reside. Please ask the Government to do something about making ceasefire a permanent reality. We want to live in peace and not under constant fear and threat of the uncertain future. Please help our voices for peace to go louder”.
Manisha has started looking for a new place to live far away from the border, but she wants to come back and live peacefully alongside the fields.
“The present situation on the border isn’t conducive either for me as a woman or my children,” says Manisha.
“I just want a life where I and my children don’t need to worry about the sirens, mortar shells and broken homes and a life which is not so close to death,” she adds
Women living near the border have been bearing the brunt and suffering in silence. They want a peaceful life, away from the skirmish and sounds of guns.
The voices of these primary stakeholders of peace, living near line of control need to get louder. We need to give peace and dialogue a chance.
(Ezabir Ali is a Commonwealth Professional and Harvard Alumnae. She is a women’s rights activist and coordinator of EHSAAS, a policy group. She has been documenting impact of conflict on the lives of women living near borders in the State).