Limping Lives along the LoC

‘All the roads that branch out of my heart lead to Poonch’ , reads an engraving on a granite plate under the bust of noted Urdu writer, Krishan Chander at a public garden in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. Seemingly, he was smitten by the snowcapped mountains, gushing streams, breathtaking landscapes, mystique meadows and deep woods—that juxtapose a picture capturing idyllic natural beauty.

But the contraposition is equally depressing. Poonch—the western district in Jammu and Kashmir, is also pockmarked by indiscriminately emplaced antipersonnel mines on its three sides touched by the Line of Control (LoC), which have invariably been endangering innocent lives for long now. In January 2013, ironically, the Indian Army released photographs of landmines planted on Indian soil by Pakistani troops. Significantly, unlike 160 countries, India and Pakistan are not signatories to Ottawa treaty also called Convention on The Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines which came in force in 1999.

While many got killed by landmines, hundreds of survivors including women, children and elderly have been living a life wounded by government apathy and poverty here. Certain families like that of Deen Mohammad (50) of Deegwar village have more than one amputee. He lost right leg in a landmine blast near his house and eventually his only son, Mohammad Haneef (19) also met the same fate.

Gangrene has set in the entire leg of Haneef as he says, “The injured leg of my son has turned black and shrivelled up like a dead twig. He is bed ridden and I don’t have money left for his treatment. I sold off everything during my treatment.”

Mohammad Safeer (19) of village, Bhagyal Dhara—only brother of two sisters, lost a leg last year. “I left studies as one has to trek for five hours to reach school in the absence of a road,” he laments, adding ,“I have to repay an amount of Rs 70,000 borrowed from relatives for my treatment. We had spent everything on my sister, Sakeena Bi (15) when she was hit by a stray bullet in 2005.”

“My village has more than 50 persons disabled by mines, stray bullets and shells. There are people like Mishri, a father of three children, who had to have his both legs amputated due to mine injury,” he adds.

Due to prolonged trauma, many have developed mental illness. Keekar Singh (91) became psychologically imbalanced after losing a leg in landmine blast in his village, Khardi Karmarda.

“I keep waking up during the night to ensure that he does not stray into landmine area. There is always a fear that militants or Army personal may shoot him dead,” says a worried Kulwant, his wife. Their only son died sometime back in an accident.

There are many women victims including Parveen Akhtar from Banmat, Gulaab Jaan from Shahpur, Razia Bi from Qasba, Hakim Bi from Salotri and Kanta Devi from Haveli in the border villages in Poonch. After losing a limb, their normal work routine did not change though surely their miseries have multiplied. They tend to children, assist in fields and look after cattle. And worst, they consider themselves ‘a burden’ on their families—an inevitable psychological ghost that stays with them after losing limbs.

A senior Army officer says on condition of anonymity, “Army ensures that minefields are duly marked and fenced but in spite of various precautions being taken, residents of the border areas keeping straying into minefields and suffer fatal casualities and disabilities. Due to age, rain and other natural hazards the landmines laid along the border get dislocated from the original emplacements making it difficult to detect and demine them.”

An ex-gratia scheme for the causalities was floated by the Ministry of Defence on January 16, 2003 under which a victim or the affected family is paid a compensation ranging from Rs 1 lakh to 2.5lakh.

“Over 90 people injured in landmine blasts in the frontier areas of Jammu and Kashmir during Operation Prakram, the India-Pakistan military stand-off in 2001, are yet to get compensation. In Jammu region, 73 people were injured, while in Kashmir Valley 18 persons were wounded,” Minister of State for Home, Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo informed legislative council on April 5 this year.

“The government has been downplaying the total number of mine victims in the state,” says a local activist, Kamaljeet Singh, claiming, “I personally filed more than 60 cases of compensation in State Human Rights Commission and despite recommendations in their favour, the victims have not received any relief.”

“The process of compensation is quite tedious. By the time it is complete, people are tired, insane or dead and actually it has reached only a handful of people,” he regrets and recommends, “There should be some concrete rehabilitation policy for the victims.”