The Hindu : Border villagers defy ban orders on meetings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 15, 2004

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Border villagers defy ban orders on meetings

By Praveen Swami

SRINAGAR, FEB. 14. Tangdhar villagers have defied orders to dismantle the improvised open border regime that has emerged in what was only three months ago the most dangerous hot-spot on the Line of Control.

Late last month, Indian military officials decided not to allow large public meetings on the banks of the Kishanganga river, which divides Tangdhar residents from friends and family across the LoC. Residents of the main village, Teetwal, have respected the restrictions, but meetings and trade continue near thinly-guarded hamlets such as Simhari, Truti Haji, Pahgwan and Kathwan. The last large meeting took place on February 5, after villagers slipped through gaps in fencing on the LoC.

Soon after India and Pakistan began to observe a ceasefire along the LoC in December, large numbers of villagers in the Teetwal area began to gather along the Kishanganga. The first such gathering took place in Teetwal on January 18. Mosque public-address systems were used to announce dates and time for villagers to gather on the Kishanganga. The ensuing rush took normally-stern troops on both sides of the LoC by surprise.

At first, villagers simply shouted out greetings to relatives across the LoC, or floated bottles containing letters across the river. Soon afterwards, however, rope lines were fixed across the Kishanganga, allowing baskets containing gifts to be hauled across. By January-end, enterprising villagers had used the ropeways to put in place a vibrant system of cross-border barter.

Witnesses say dozens of sacks bearing copra and textiles regularly make their way across the Kishanganga, and return filled with live chickens and blankets. Foodgrain, edible oil and pulses are also believed to be bartered. Some families have also sent across cash gifts for births and weddings in their relatives' families.

The Army, although surprised by the impromptu meetings, at first took an indulgent view of events. Teetwal's ethnic-Pahari population has had little to do with secessionist politics in Jammu and Kashmir, and most of its residents have maintained a studied distance from the activities of terrorist groups. The Tangdhar border was relatively open until 1988, even if the movement was, technically speaking, illegal. Villagers routinely crossed the LoC for community functions, weddings and births, as well as for small-time trade.

Times have changed — but not enough, evidently — to turn the clock back a decade and a half. Officials monitoring the growing trade in Tangdhar worried that it could be abused to move explosives and arms across the LoC. In mid-January, military officials asked for permission to end the border gatherings. There were also, sources said, concerns that the reopening of the until-then snowbound road from Srinagar to Tangdhar would allow the LoC to become a site for potentially embarrassing political mobilisation by secessionist politicians from the Kashmir valley.

Finally, on January 28, troops received orders to stop villagers from gathering along the LoC. The decision was put in effect just days after an estimated 10,000 Tangdhar villagers gathered on the LoC to watch the Indian flag being unfurled on the banks of the Kishanganga on January 26. The Republic Day celebrations soon developed into a massive meeting on the Kishanganga, that one officer The Hindu spoke to described it as ``a carnival.''

In recent years, the Kishanganga valley — known to Pakistanis as the Neelam valley — has been the scene of some of the most fierce artillery exchanges on the LoC. Indian troops brought massive force to bear on this sector, cutting off Pakistan's strategically-vital Karakoram highway which links the country to Gilgit and China. Little construction work has taken place in the valley for several years, because Pakistan has been unable to move in supplies in the face of heavy Indian fire. Now, however, Pakistan is taking advantage of the ongoing ceasefire to fortify its defences. Underground bunkers and trenches have been constructed to enable troops to move in the face of hostile fire, and entire hillsides blasted away to give Pakistani artillery greater protection from Indian artillery. India, in turn, has hastened construction of its counter-infiltration fence along the LoC, which is nearing completion on the Tangdhar heights.

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