The Hindu : Jammu carnage haunts children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 17, 2002

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu carnage haunts children

By Our Staff Reporter

RAJIV NAGAR (JAMMU) JULY 16 . One of the worst sufferers of the Rajiv Nagar terrorist attack, in which 28 persons died, are the children of the locality who were witness to the carnage. A number of children are spending sleepless nights since that day.

Basant Kumar said: "My six-year-old son sleeps intermittently but only to wake up and cry. We have to assure him that everything is all right and the terrorists will not come again."

A senior psychologist told The Hindu that this should not come as a surprise. Children are the most vulnerable lot. Having seen such a violent incident, the impact may be everlasting if not treated immediately. The State Government, apart from distributing relief, should take measures to lessen the psychological impact of the tragedy, especially for the children. Scenes of the terrorists going inside the slums and spraying bullets on children haunt the slum-dwellers.

Says Banarsi Das: "We are ourselves scared as to what assurance we should give to our children. Tinku Kumar (12), who was playing with his friends, was injured in the attack when he was shot in the leg. He jumped into the drain when the bullets were raining. Though he has recovered in the hospital, Saturday's incident still haunts him."

Some of the unfortunate children have lost both their parents like the four-year-old grandson of Kailash Devi.

She said: "I am an old woman. Who will take care of my grandson after me? What would I do with the government help when both my daughter and son-in-law have died? I have lost the desire to live in this world which is so cruel but I pray to God to let me live till the time my grandson is able to stand on his own." The boy luckily survived with a bullet in his stomach and is still under intensive care at the Government Medical College Hospital.

Some parents have lost their children. Kalo, a woman who lost her only son, Mahesh, is hospitalised. She starts wailing when anybody asks her about the incident.

The nurses request the people not to remind her about the incident. When the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, met Ms. Kalo, his eyes became wet when the woman narrated her story. She told Mr. Advani: "

I have brought up my son myself by not eating for days. I had asked Papu (her husband) many times that we should go back to Rajasthan but he had always asked me to wait for some time. We have lost everything with the death of our only son now."

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