Afsana Kousar, a student of class IV from border village Keerni has to trek for 4-5 hours everyday to attend her school at Qasba in Poonch district of Jammu Kashmir. To reach her classroom, the small girl crosses some lofty mountains, streams, treacherous dirt tracks meandering through dense forests and a gate in huge concertina wires-the fence, technically called Anti Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS)-- that was constructed by Army following ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC) in 2003 to check cross border illegal activities.
The fence which is usually 12-15 feet in height and nearly eight feet in width-made up of coils of concertina wires, in certain areas, is nearly seven to eight kilometres away from the zero line thereby leaving many villages literally sandwiched between fence and zero line.
Like Afsana, the entire population of her village, nearly 750, has to go through the same situation to avail government services outside their caged village where civil administration is conspicuous by its absence. Army men are the only face of the Indian state in this village. Nevertheless, there are many such villages in Poonch, which are surrounded by the Line of Control on three sides, which present a dismal picture of barbed wires, underdevelopment and human misery due to overall destruction of civil life by the prolonged conflict.
Notwithstanding government expenditure of thousands of crores under the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan, the ills afflicting mountainous border villages tell a different story. Lack of basic amenities, threat from landmines, want of alternative employment opportunities, restricted movements, fear of militants and border skirmishes make their life all the more miserable.
Balakote Panchayat has been divided into two parts by the fence. The news of the misery of the other part filters in when some people from the other side visit this side of fence for daily needs. The residents are allowed to come out and move inside for a specified time of the day after verification of the identification by the army personnel manning the gates.
"Army has occupied vast tracts of land here and the fence runs through fertile land," says Sarpach of Balakote Panchayat in Mendhar tehsil (Half of the Balakote Panchayat area is inside the fence), Karamat Ullah Khan, adding, "Villagers do not have any source of livelihood. Land is their only asset and they are not getting any compensation either."
Residents living outside the fence have to walk extra miles to reach gates for cultivating their farmlands. This area has a natural potential for horticulture but there are no transportation and cold storage facilities.
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A teacher hardly attends the school inside the fence for more than six or seven days in a month as per records of Army men at the gate, but the teachers draw full salary for the month, says Karamat Ullah. "The Panchayat Ghar and only dispensary are in shambles," rues Karamat and citing other development issues asks, "We do not know where the border development fund is going?"
Living a life stifled by administrative inertia and conflict, they consider themselves no better than human shields. "During night, the fence is electrified. Also, the barbed wires of the fence have poisonous blades and in case an animal gets injured it hardly survives. Our villages have been turned into human zoos. Even animals in the enclosures are taken care of but our condition is rather worse," says, Mirza Khan (90) - who lost a leg in a landmine blast.
"At fence gates, the villagers are frisked thoroughly and security men rummage through their belongings. The whole drill puts children and women to severe stress," he rues the daily embarrassment villagers go through.
A local social activist wishing anonymity says, the drop- out rate of girl students was on rise in border areas. "Our people are usually patted down in the name of security checks" in acts that go against respecting the dignity of women and girls. "Therefore the parents prefer not to send their adolescent girls to the schools across the fence. In every house you will find that girls do not study beyond class VII," he claims.
In the evening gates, are closed for the villagers. If the villagers have to take a serious patient to the hospital during the night, they have to seek permission, which sometimes takes long. Delays prove fatal at times.
Villagers of Bhagyal Dhara share the same feeling of being persecuted for no reasons. "The government of India should treat us like other citizens. It must relocate and rehabilitate us elsewhere so that we could also live peacefully," says, Mohammad Safeer (17) an amputee who survived landmine blast last year.
The Charkha Development Communication network wants to project the life of villagers, who live a life in isolation. "Even close relatives are not allowed to participate in our birth, death and marriage related social functions," says Fatima Jaan, a widow who too lost her leg to a landmine in her village, Gontrian. People living outside no longer want any relations with us. They have stopped marrying off their daughters to those living in villages behind the fence.
"The years of conflict have eroded rural economy and increased poverty. The conflict-affected villages here need major post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction interventions," says a teacher at degree college Poonch, . adding, "If the fence can't be relocated very close to the zero line, the villagers should be rehabilitated somewhere else. For how long the government wants them to live in a conflict zone?"
A senior Army officer pleading anonymity says: "We have been providing water supply through vehicles to such villages besides holding free health check-up camps from time to time. The Army also provides vehicles to the villagers to carry their patients to the civil hospital. The long -standing demands of the people have to be responded by the civil administration."
"Since such areas are highly sensitive from security point of view, we have to maintain strict surveillance-after all this is our primary job. At the same time, we enjoy good relation with the villagers because of Operation Sadbhavana," he claims and adds, "The decision regarding issues of compensation and shifting of fence has to be taken by the government."
(The article has been written as part of series on Life in Conflict Zone under National Media Fellowship instituted by National Foundation for India)
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