Other States - Jammu & Kashmir   

Homeless in their own land

By Our Staff Reporter

Devipur (Akhnoor) July 26. As the country celebrates Vijay Diwas, marking the recapture of the Kargil heights, thousands of people uprooted from their homes along the Akhnoor frontier in Jammu and Kashmir during the conflict continue to suffer. Massive shelling from across the border during the war had forced them to leave and since then they have received little relief. According to estimates, over 50,000 people along with their cattle migrated from the forward tehsils of this border area.

The migrants are still holed up in tents along the Jammu-Poonch National Highway and left to care for themselves. A number of times they tried to return to their villages but could not due to the frequent outbreak of tensions. In 2001, many of them came home but had to leave again after India-Pakistan tensions escalated after the December 13, 2001, attack on India's Parliament.

People living in villages in other places along the border returned after the war, but the Akhnoor migrants could not. For, most of their homes had been destroyed in the shelling and their fields rendered infertile due to the increased toxicity in the soil.

Some time ago, the State Government had framed a policy to allot them alternative plots at a safe distance from the border so that they did not have to suffer the pain of migration every time tensions increased between the two countries. On the ground, however, progress on this issue remains slow.

In the meantime, the education of the migrants' children suffers as the makeshift schools started by the authorities closed down. Says Baldev Raj, a migrant: "

The Kargil war made us virtual beggars and the future of our children is bleak." The migrants' cattle are also dying due to inadequate fodder and unhygienic atmosphere. Doctors, who used to come for occasional visits, have stopped coming.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• 'Terrorist designs will be defeated'
• Where disability is no deterrent
• Homeless in their own land
• Geelani wants a 'just solution'

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu