For first time, this border village in Jammu is harvesting crops without fear and bombings

Jammu, J&K: Jade log de jandene ithe qurbaniyaan, duniya chi rendiyane undeya nishaniya.This is a folk song from Jammu. It is sung by farmers in the fields and it means the ones who render sacrifices are the ones remembered by the world after their lives. However, this tradition of singing in the fields has been on a decline, at least in the village of Suchetgarh, which is a stone’s throw from Pakistan along the International Border in Jammu’s RS Pora sector. Bombings across the border have made farming a life-threatening livelihood to pursue in this village that has a little over 200 households. Singing or being carefree is out of the question. However, things are looking different this year. Last month, India and Pakistan declared a ceasefire — it's the first time in many decades that a truce has been called here during the harvesting season, which spans from March to April. A ceasefire was announced earlier too, during the holy month of Ramzan in 2018, but it proved to be short-lived. In fact, India and Pakistan had signed a ceasefire pact in November 2003 but they haven’t been able to honour it, especially after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.Given the chequered history of this agreement, it’s difficult to say how long the latest ceasefire will last but the locals are hailing it as the new dawn. It’s unusually quiet in Suchetgarh for the past few weeks. The thuds of the guns and mortar shells have been replaced by the carefree chirping and warbling of birds. The families are wandering into their fields without fear, admiring the crops and hoping for good returns. Suchetgarh is a border village of little over 200 households. The Pakistani picket can be seen in the distance. Credit: Umer AsifAs per the government records, 454 hectares of land in Suchetgarh is under cultivation and is used mostly to grow Basmati rice and maize.“The feeling that no one is going to kill you [in the crossfire] is inexplicable. You have to experience it [to know what we are feeling right now],” shares Madhu Kumari. Her family’s four-acre farmland is closest to this border, which the locals call ‘the zero line’. What’s farming like on border?According to Kumari’s husband Bhaga Ram, more than 20 residents of Suchetgarh have lost their lives in the ceasefire violations but none have died while working on their farmland. “But there hasn’t been a single year since my childhood when harvesting wasn’t a scary affair. All the time a sword was hanging over our head that artillery fire might hit us as we reap the year’s hard work,” the 61-year-old says. Bhaga Ram (centre) is flanked by his wife and cousin in this photograph. Their farmland is nearest to the International Border. Credit: Umer AsifIn Avinash Kumar’s case, the mortar shell missed him by a few metres in the cross-border hostility that escalated in 2018. The violence that year was worse than it was during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, residents of the border villages have described in this report. “I remember it was February. My father wasn’t well. So I went to the field to prepare the land as the harvest season was a month away. Suddenly I heard a loud thud and a strong blow of air threw me off to a corner. My ears were toggling with strange sounds as I tried to crawl around to take shelter. Within one hour, we all were taken away in a government bunker and later shifted to a safe-house. The land, the crops, the harvest — everything was destroyed,” remembers the young farmer.It's a drill the residents of Suchetgarh have got used to. Every time the armies trade fire across the border, they have to flee their fields and homes and take shelter in government safe-houses. And when the tensions subside, they return to bruised homes and farmlands. Farmer Talib Hussain dubs the experience nightmarish. “[After the skirmishes in 2018,] we would often find some unexploded shells lying around. Our own fields had become death wells for us. We were reluctant to sow the crops [the season begins from September]. We were even hesitant to harvest them,” he recalls. That year, he incurred a loss of more than Rs2 lakh as a part of his crops got damaged in the violence. Forced to do other jobsFarming in Suchetgarh has suffered in more ways than one. The bombings have left behind toxic residue on the farmlands, turning them infertile in most places. A putrid odour greets you when you visit the fields and there is no respite from the constant buzzing of mosquitoes. In fact, according to government records, an estimated 17,000 hectares of land get destroyed due to shelling every year all over Jammu & Kashmir. Suchetgarh’s Vinaay Kumar knows the pain of losing his land and crops all too well. He could not sow anything on his two-acre land after the intense shelling from Pakistan in 2018. “[I was hoping for a profitable yield that year]. But I got nothing at the end. I could not sow any crop the next year. The land was giving off the pungent smell of a burnt powder keg,” Kumar remembers.The volatile situation has forced the residents to look beyond farming, which has been their traditional source of livelihood — A quintal of Basmati rice sells for Rs4,000. “Farming is in our blood. My father often tells me that his farmland is dearer to him than his three sons,” says Avinash with a gentle smile. But now, many have either started migrating to nearby towns or have taken up odd jobs to supplement their income. Vinaay, for instance, runs a shop to sell bicycle spare parts while his brothers work as masons. Vinaay has little choice but to do this because the compensation given to the farmers after the crop loss due to firings is too meagre to even cover the basic farming costs. He explains, “We were given RS6,000 as compensation in 2018. Initially, I thought it was a joke or maybe the government was planning to pay us in instalments of Rs6,000. But I was told by the local relief officer that the amount was full and final.” A farmer in Suchetgarh, on the contrary, spends almost Rs12,000 to buy seeds and fertilisers for an acre of farmland alone, he adds.‘Let us live, sing’ Despite the disappointment, the farmers haven’t protested against the paltry compensation yet. They don’t want to be thrown into this situation ever again, that’s all they say. They want the ceasefire to be honoured in true spirit. Local children while their time as their parents are busy in the fields. The harvesting season lasts from March to April. Credit: Umer Asir“Saving our lives and the lives of our families is always a priority for us. We can only hope that the ceasefire remains intact so we can live and do our work without any fear,” Ram says. And do it with joy, adds Avinash as he says: “Believe me, the toilers of this land had abandoned that trend [of singing songs in the fields] a long time ago. But now, it seems the truce will last and we can euphorically sing Jade log de… ”

Amid terror threat, anxious Kashmiris preparing for eventualities

A heightened threat perception has begun to affect routine life in Jammu & Kashmir amid an increasing presence of the Indian armed forces.Earlier this week, the Centre had deployed 10,000 additional troops in the conflict-ridden state. On Thursday, 25,000 more troops were pressed into service. On Friday, the annual pilgrimage of Amarnath Yatra was curtailed after a landmine and a sniper rifle were found on the route. Ali Mohammad Bhat, a 65-year-old shawl weaver from the old city area of Srinagar, has been busy stocking up groceries, milk powder and medicine in his home. With the air of uncertainty and anxiety looming large, he wants to be prepared for any eventuality. He’s not alone. Grocery stores, ration depots and fuel stations in Srinagar are witnessing an unusual rush of people since the Centre has fortified security in the state.Multiple government orders were uploaded on social media last week, suggesting a major unrest could be in the offing. The visit of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, deployment of thousands of troops and presence of security forces at sensitive places like radio and TV stations are being viewed as a precursor of something untoward. There have been reports that Pakistan is planning a major offensive in Kashmir ahead of India’s Independence Day, August 15.“There is precisely something big going to happen,” Bhat told 101Reporters. On Thursday, Army chief General Bipin Rawat arrived in Srinagar to review security preparations. Requesting anonymity, a police officer told 101Reporters the situation looks like a preparation to tackle some major incident. “We have been instructed to stay alert. That is all I can tell you. Kashmir is a place where anything can happen any time,” he said. Independence Day preparations are in full swing in all the government schools and colleges. While educational institutes remain open, parents are being cautious and are not sending their children to schools and colleges.“I am a medical student and for me, practicals are an important part of my curriculum. But the current situation is so tense that my parents have asked me not to go to the college for a few days just to be on the safer side,” said Rahila Muzaffer, a college student.Politicos reactPeoples Democratic Party leader Khurshid Alam said that while Kashmir has been witnessing uncertainty for the past three decades, never has the situation been so precarious as it is now. “There is panic among the locals. The government is duty-bound to come clean on it. You cannot play mind games with your own people,” he said.Similar concerns were expressed by former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah. "What "ongoing situation" in Kashmir would require the army AND the Air Force to be put on alert? This isn't about 35A or delimitation. This sort of alert, if actually issued, would be about something very different,” he tweeted. A former independent legislator and senior leader of Peoples’ United Front, Engineer Rashid, criticised the Centre’s handling of the entire situation. “The government has to explain why it is creating fear psychosis in the peoples’ minds,” he told 101Reporters. The Hurriyat Conference (G) issued a statement: “In response to the global concern about the gross human rights violations in the state, has hit India very hard diplomatically and out of frustration they create fear psychosis and a war-like scenario.”The Hurriyat spokesperson said that instead of war-mongering, India should take concrete steps to de-escalate the rising tension because their recent stand-off with their nuclear-armed neighbour after the Pulwama incident has been bone-chilling.Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said he has no clue about what is happening. “There is confusion, which creates panic. But whatever will come has nothing to do with the Kashmir issue. Nothing will have any impact on it,” he said.   -Ends-(With inputs from Junaid Nabi Bazaz and Safina Nabi.)

No welcome for Rohingya in Hindu-dominated Jammu

Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir: In the midst of the damp earth giving out a putrid odour and clouds of mosquitoes from whose buzzing and strings is no respite, a cluster of hutments of Rohingyas stretches in Bathandi camp located in the outskirts Jammu- winter capital of India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state.Outside of the dust inundated hutments, there are piles of shoes lined up in a corner and inside are kids no older than 6 years, wearing blue color tunics and shirts, staring in unison towards a black color board.Teen sheets strained with rust and wooden blocks have been used to erect temporary structures in which hundreds of Rohingya kids are struggling to get education amid the unfavourable and hostile situation.Inside one such hutment, Mohammad Tahir, a 22-year-old Rohingya Muslim who has dedicated himself to provide kids of his community an education, excitedly asks the children to recognize different fruits. “See, they know it. They even recognise colours and have memorised alphabets from A to Z,” he says, smiling.Sitting in a front row is 4-year-old Tasleema Akhtar. She is making herself heard with a singular distinction by pronouncing the names of Papaya, Orange and Guava correctly.  Tasleema is one of the thousands of Rohingya kids whose parents fled their native Rakhine following violence against them and discriminatory treatment in the Buddhist-majority state.   But she knows Rakhine only through her mother’s lullabies and imagines it as a land “full of fruits, rivers and fishes.” Her parents fled their home state in the year 2012. Tasleema was born two years later in 2014 in a refugee camp of Jammu.“It is her first week in the school and she has dazzled us all through her fine wit. She is quite good at mathematics and has a very impressive memory,” says Mohammad Tahir..This Rohingya Muslim vividly remembers the prosecution his community had to face at the hands of the Burmese government and says he still gets flashbacks of blazing villages and crying women. He was 19 when he along with his two brothers and aged parents left the Rakhine state, walked the treacherous terrains for days and finally reached India. The family was suggested by their guide in New Delhi to go to Jammu and join other Rohingya Muslims there.   “We were told that the weather here is tolerable and we will get good wages.  And then we decided to put up in Jammu,” recalls Tahir.According to government figures, 1,219 Rohingya families, comprising 5,107 family members, live in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,912 of whom hold UNHCR cards.However, various Hindu groups who demand their deportation are accusing that the actual number of the refugees could be much higher as thousands have succeeded in infiltrating into the state through illegal means.On several occasions, the hutments were attacked by the unruly mobs in the past and open calls by various pro-Hindu parties were made, asking people to rise in revolt against the settlement of these Rohingya Muslims in the state.Tahir says soon after the vicious campaigns against his community were launched, the government run schools start denying admission to Rohingya kids.  Schools would say that parents of other kids object to Rohingya  children studying in same classes. “ When we objected to such assertions, they came up with another excuse and cited language barrier between the local teachers of the state and Rohingya kids as the prime reason.,” says Tahir.Being a 12th class pass out in Humanities stream, Tahir begun confabulating with other educated Rohinga youth of the  camp, deliberating over the ways needed to provide children the much needed education. “It would have been criminal to stay silent at such a crucial juncture of our lives. We discussed many ways and then popped up the idea of developing our own litle preparatory schools where kids can be trained enough that they can directly get admission in higher classes,” recalls Tahir.He himself and three other youth who had passed 10th class volunteered for the cause and drafted syllabus for the new school. “We ensured that the school will train the kids in basics like writing numbers, alphabets, speaking rhymes and recognising colours. We believe that once equipped with basic knowledge, the mainstream schools will have no reason to. Deny these kids an admission,” Tahir said.A non- government organization, Sakhawat Centre, which had been providing basic facilities like clothing, water and medicines to the hutments was also contacted by these youth and the proposal to establish a school in one of the hutments was discussed.  “It was a very positive idea and we decided to provide kids books, uniform and stationary items. Such was the enthusiasm of the youth that they persuaded 50 parents to enroll their kids in a single day,” says Mohammad Ashraf, a senior official of the NGO.He says that the matter of admitting the Rohingya kids in government run schools was taken up with the school authorities and they have agreed to take these kids in once they are able to write and speak properly.  “We are training these kids for higher classes and make them able to cope up with other students,” Mr Ashraf added.  “We have seen enough, faced enough and borne enough. It was because our community was ignorant of its rights that we were slaughtered and our homes were set on fire. We will not allow our next generation to face the same ordeal as we faced,” says Masood Ahmad, a 19- year old Rohingya Muslim who teaches at the camp.For him, it would be nonetheless a heinous crime to leave these young Rohingya kids uneducated in the world where he says education is the only effective weapon to raise voice against injustice and seek rights.“Even if it takes 20 years for us to go back to Myanmar, these young kids should go as educated human beings knowing in entirety their rights and entitlements so that unlike their parents they aren’t made to suffer and prosecuted with impunity,” says Tahir.As over a year has passed since a school was established in midst of the refugee camps, Tahir says there are more than 100 kids being trained to speak and write properly and recognize pictures of animals, fruits and vegetables.  “We don’t know how far we can go with this endeavor but it is the hope of getting ourselves out of the squalid conditions that makes us face all the ordeals stoically,” says Tahir.Noor Alam, an elderly Rohingya Muslim in the camp says the school has given the people of his community a hope of better future.  He says it took him years to understand the role education plays in person’s life. “Our kids will go to Myamar now as educated human beings and by virtue of education, they will not be humiliated, ridiculed, tortured and prosecuted as we were in our home state,” says 56- year- Noor Alam.