Amidst a pile of debris and detritus strewn around, a hurriedly constructed shanty stands just in front of the ravaged house of 42-year-old Bashir Ahmad Bhat. As one enters through a loosely hinged door into the shanty, a crackling sound breaks. Bhat is seen sitting on the floor with his legs spread and back leaned against the fragile wall. His left shoulder with a bullet inside is wrapped with swathes of bandage. Although reduced to a bag of bones and looking much older than his age, a strange sheen suddenly appears in his sunken eyes after a septuagenarian man apprises him about the funds raised by locals for the re-construction of his house.
Following a gun-fight between the government forces and militants near his residence on Friday night, Bhat’s newly constructed house, according to him, was destroyed by the government forces after militants vanished in pitch-dark night. In a fit of anger, the forces also shot Bhat in his shoulder.
As everything – furniture, jewelry, books and other household goods – in the house went up in flames, with well-nigh no hope of any help from government, Bhat’s family was left rather devastated. However, the funds raised by the locals to help Bhat has rekindled his hopes.
Locals, particularly youth, soon after the encounter began to collect money in different alleys of Pulwama town to help the family to rebuild their house. On Monday morning, walking down a thoroughfare in town, a few youths with collection boxes were seen requesting people for donations.
“We have raised a good amount of money. People are making generous contributions – professionals, academics, traders, philanthropists – everyone is contributing,” said one of the youths who did not wish to be named.
Bar Association Pulwama has also begun to raise donations for the affected family. Speaking to the Greater Kashmir, Gul Mohammad, president Bar Association Pulwama said that they had also started to collect money for the family. Both the lawyers as well as their clientele had made significant contributions.
“The money will be soon handed over to the family,” he added.
While deputy commissioner Pulwama Ghlam Mohammad Dar says that government provides compensation to the affected families, a revenue official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “In the first place the process of completing the official formalities is rather cumbersome and then only a very paltry amount is provided in the form of compensation to the affected family.”
Although no precise data about the number of houses demolished in gun-battles in Kashmir is available, more than 200 houses, according to a revenue official, were razed to ground in the last two years in south Kashmir alone.