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A farmer of a border village in Punjab salvages what he can of his crop as the soldiers move in.

AS THE Army replaces the BSF along the 2500-km-long border with Pakistan, setting up anti-aircraft gun batteries and laying mines, the hapless villagers in the area have been uprooted from their homes.

In Jammu and Kashmir, where strife is an everyday thing, the military build-up has only accentuated the people's hardships, but along the 530-km stretch in Punjab and the 1040-km line in Rajasthan, life has come to a near standstill.

In Rajasthan's dreamy desert villages it has been a winter of discontent without the foreign tourists. In Punjab and the neighbouring Sriganganagar district in Rajasthan standing wheat and mustard crops are wilting as the Army has closed the irrigation canals.

Even before a single shot has been fired ``officially'' by either side, dozens of people, civilians and defence personnel, not to speak of cattle, have fallen victim to landmines. Such accidents have been reported from across the border too in Pakistan's Punjab and Sindh provinces.

Mass exodus of families living in the border areas in Jammu is taking place while in the Kashmir Valley - notwithstanding the complexities of the situation there - migration has been minimal along the LoC. The exodus from Jammu - when winter is at its worst - has created an unusually high demand for makeshift tents which the authorities are not able to cope with.

Uri town in Jammu and Kashmir had been at the receiving end during all hostilities between India and Pakistan over the past 54 years. A group of people from villages near the LoC, who were in the town for some official work and to buy essentials, were quite vocal. ``Our fate always hangs in the balance as we have been living under the shadow of guns and shells. It hardly makes a difference if war breaks out,'' said 60-year-old Shukuruddin from Churunda. His brother, Nooruddin, was killed in 1998 when Pakistani shells hit his house. Mr. Shukuruddin is angry because the authorities left his brother's family to fend for itself. ``No relief has been given to his family so far,'' he pointed out.

``War is no solution,'' said Akbar Ahmed. ``I have seen war in 1965 and in 1971 and it did not bring any tangible solution.'' War is the main topic of discussion as the massing of troops along both sides of the border looks unprecedented. Radio Kashmir, Radio Pakistan and BBC and Pakistan Television are the only source of information for the people in these areas.

In contrast to the Kashmir Valley, the sense of panic is much more in Jammu which has been witnessing serious ``preparations for war'' and also Pakistani shelling and firing. The number of migrants is swelling with each passing day. Official estimates are that more than 8,000 families have migrated to safer places in recent weeks. This is besides the 16,000 families which had moved in 1999 during Kargil and are yet to return home.

``Our plight is not being taken note of,'' said Ram Lal, a migrant from the Akhnoor sector. The authorities have announced long school holidays as the buildings are being converted into makeshift camps. This is besides thousands of tents already pitched for migrants from Samba, RS Pura, Akhnoor, Rajouri and Poonch. A senior officer says, ``we have been trying to accommodate them but the panic is pushing more and more people towards migration''.

Punjab's 530-km-long international border with Pakistan, divided by natural boundaries - the Ravi and the Sutlej - and of late by the barbed wire fencing, has been a theatre of war for over a thousand years now. The region bore the brunt of the turmoil during the Partition as well as during the two wars India fought with its neighbour later.

Since the Army buildup began in December, the people have been moving out as they did during Kargil. They want to avoid a situation similar to what they faced in 1971 when they were caught unawares.

These border villagers are resourceful and have a multi-layered support system to fend for themselves in case of war. They have been quick to move women and children to safer places. The men have remained behind to take care of their fields and cattle. Many of the locals, especially affluent Jat Sikh families which take pride in their martial traditions, chose to shift their belongings at night to avoid embarrassment. Some families from Ferozepur's Mohar Kheeva village were upset over the media focus on them. The police have asked the villagers to report to the authorities any suspicious movements as Mohar Kheeva is surrounded by Pakistan territory on three sides. In turn, the locals have sought arms and ammunition to fight alongside the Army jawans. They are helping dig trenches, maintain vigil, transport Army equipment and even organise community kitchens for the troops. But brave protestations apart, the hardships the villagers face are beyond words.

Surinder Singh Jaura of Attari village narrated how only three months ago he had helped the family of his daughter-in-law settle back in their border village in Khem Karan sector from where they had moved out during Kargil. ``Now again we had to shift their belongings.''

A resident of Rania village in Amritsar, Sukhdev Kaur, noted that people had adjusted themselves to the hardships resulting from living on a perilous border, though they were bitter about the Government apathy. After the Partition and then during the laying of the barbed wire in 1984 problems cropped up as 20,000 acres of cultivable land in three border districts lies between the fence and the zero line. Fields accessible earlier have been rendered out of reach. The Union Government, after much persuasion, last year agreed to pay Rs. 2500 per acre as compensation to the affected farmers.

In Rajasthan, where the international border is the longest, spread over the districts of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Sriganganagar, the forces are massed on both the sides in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. Blackouts, sirens, exercises, disruption of road and rail traffic, and disconnection of STD facilities have become the norm in the desert towns which are teeming with Armymen.

The economy of the desert, much dependent on revenue from tourism, is likely to suffer this season. The Army has taken away trucks from transport operators while farmers in Sriganganagar resent confiscation of their tractors. ``People are witnessing this kind of Army buildup for the first time after 1971,'' said Aidan Singh of Ranau village, about 20 km from the international border in Jaisalmer. He is a god-fearing type and thinks that ``the almighty will take care''. ``In 1971 too we did not leave our village,'' he pointed out.

Landmines claimed 19 lives in Gamnewala not far from Longewala in Jaisalmer in the last week of December. Such explosions were also reported from Barmer's Sundra and Munaba and from Kajuwala in Bikaner killing dozens of people - both civilians and military personnel.

Though no official evacuation has taken place in any of these districts, a number of people have left fearing for their lives. The migration is the highest in Sriganganagar - where the borders have good farmland and considerable population - and the least in Jaisalmer where habitations are few and far between though the border is the longest there at 471 km.

Tourism is going to be a major casualty. ``Who will come here under such circumstances,'' asks Upendra Singh, hotelier in the city of the Golden Fort. ``Last year the prestigious Desert Festival was cancelled due to the earthquake in Gujarat. This year too it is doubtful whether it could be held. Even if it takes place foreign tourists will not come as they book in advance,'' says Nawab Khan, a tourist guide in the town, which by now looks more like a military cantonment area than a major tourist destination.

In Sriganganagar, the hapless people plagued both by preparations for war and a devastating drought last year reportedly resented the Army presence in their neighbourhood. In Hindumalkot area which has 20 villages, a good number of families - ranging from 10 to 96 per cent in various villages - have moved out. Many hamlets have only the elderly who either refused to move out or are too weak to risk a journey. In Rohirawali village, an estimated 86 per cent of the people have left their homes while in 16 villages falling under Matili Rathan police station area, 25 to 93 per cent of the families have left. In the Anupgarh sector, 90 per cent of the inhabitants have left villages curiously named 1 APM, 2 APM and 3 APM and 15 AA. In 5 K and 8 K of the sector half the population has moved out.

In Majihiwala village of Sriganganagar the exodus has been 15 per cent while it was as high as 80 per cent in Naggidhanewala and Mukan. In Kesrisinghpur and Gajsinghpur, large scale migration of people has been reported.

Though the District Collector, Kiren Soni Gupta, insisted that there was only one isolated case in which villagers of Rohirawali had complained of misbehaviour by Army personnel, the people are generally said to be not happy about the massive troop mobilisation.

This is specially because the Army has taken over the control of the Gang Canal, the Indira Gandhi Nahar and their tributaries. Sources indicate that the water is being stored for use to flush out enemy tanks and vehicles trying to cross the canal to Indian territory. People are prevented from going to their fields as mines have been laid.

Ms. Gupta denied any friction between the local public and the Army as well as between the Army and the civic administration. ``We have very good coordination with the Army. We have requested to the Army to hold talks with sarpanchs and patwaris before staring their activities in the area and they are doing that. The morale of the villagers is also very high,'' she said.

The authorities have identified 274 villages in Sriganganagar district alone for moving the persons to relief camps to be located at Nohar, Badra and Rawatsar and Lunkaransar in neighbouring districts of Hanumangarh and Bikaner. This is only if war breaks out.

But already for the people along the border in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan, the war clouds have cast a shadow on their lives.

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