Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Along the border

Photo: Luv Puri

In no man’s land: Children at the Manik Pehan refugee camp near Muzaffarabad in PoK.

Five years ago, Yaseen had called up to inform the family that he was alive and living in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Finally, his uncle, Haji Qasim Mohammad, who used to work in Saudi Arabia, managed to establish contact with the boy through his friends who had come from Pakistan. “I told the boy through my friends that he should come back to his home and they would ensure that he is not harmed. But he was not willing to listen. I even spoke to some Lashkar commanders in Pakistan to let the boy return,” says Haji Qasim Mohammad. Yaseen is not the only person from the State of Jammu and Kashmir who is caught up in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir or Pakistan but the return is not that easy.

Thirty-five-year-old Aslam Mohammad, a former Hizb-e-Islami militant belonging to the Reasi area, who has had a first-hand experience of living in a militant camp in different parts of Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir informs that the journey to militancy is easy as compared to the journey back home. Mohammad Aslam had joined the militant outfit in 1998 and had crossed the Line of Control to be trained in a militant camp near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The change of heart, according to him, took place during his training in the Hizb-e-Islami camp. Recalling his time in the training camp, he says, “Our training was a mix of religious discourse and military warfare. We were trained by Pushto-speaking as well as Punjabi-speaking trainers for a year. The Taliban were in command of the affairs in Afghanistan. I saw youth below the age of 14 undergoing training which I thought was no Jehad.” Aslam crossed the Line of Control in November 1999 to work under the commandership of Hyderi, a Pakistan national heading the Pir Panjal regiment of Hizbul Mujahideen. He gave the slip to his commander and finally surrendered in the Reasi area. Aslam was attacked twice by the militants and recently escaped an assassination attempt. Aslam says, “I know I am on the hit list of militants. I did not get much help from the authorities but I decided to fight back, otherwise I would have been eliminated. Only those would return know that they would not be harmed and for this consent from various quarters is essential.” At present, Aslam is leading a group of 110 men and has 11 groups with 10 men in different areas to fight militancy in hilly hamlets of Reasi district.

Political parties in the State have pleaded that the boys who had gone across the Line of Control should be allowed to come back and suitably rehabilitated. Even the working group appointed on the initiative of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had underscored the need for the return and their suitable rehabilitation. But beyond the emotional cries and the media discourse, the reality is much different on the ground on both sides of the Line of Control as many questions need to be answered before the much-awaited return is possible. The problem has many dimensions to it.

Youth in PoK have cases pending against them in Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front militant Sher Khan, a resident of Rajouri who was released as part of a deal to release five militants in lieu of the release of former Chief Minister and then Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s daughter Rubiya Sayeed, told me that it would be difficult for him to return as cases are pending against him. Many POK youth asked me to contact their families in Srinagar which I did but the relatives back home are too scared to pursue the cases because of the fear of being victimised.

It would be wrong to presume that the cases of return pertain only to individuals who have involvement with militancy, as, in the border areas of J&K, a number of families have migrated to the other side in the post-1990 period. Many of these families are still registered with the local revenue officers. Mendhar is one sector in Poonch district where migration across the LoC is most rampant. During the months of April to July 1991, there was a sudden spurt in migration, particularly in Panjani area where over 400 men, women and children went across to POK. Not too different is the reality in Tarkundi area of Rajouri where a senior army officer had admitted to me that cross migration has taken place a few years back. Similarly, in Karnah belt of Kupwara district migration has taken place to POK as these migrants are living in various refugee camps of Muzaffarabad district of POK. The migrants are given a paltry relief of Rs.1,000 per month to look after their family. Munir Chowdhary, whose family had migrated from Rajouri area and presently resides in Mirpur district of POK, says, “Life after displacement is difficult. The two countries should handle the issue with a humanitarian perspective.”

But the return of these families is far easier said than done. Travel across the PoK is restricted under the Ingress and Egress Act for those crossing illegally and is a punishable act. A senior police officer said, “It would be difficult to give a general amnesty to such a large number of families who have migrated across the Line of Control in the post-1990 scenario.” Human Right activists argue that travel of State residents across the Line of Control should be seen in the light of the abnormal conditions prevailing along the border belt of the State. The issue of the return of State residents from PoK is certainly a complex one which requires delicate handling and needs a discourse which sheds more light than the usual emotional outbursts depending on the ideological leanings of the individuals and political parties.

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