Refugees in their own land: Fed up LoC border villagers call on India to stop Pakistan

Srinagar: A group of angry villagers gathered in the main Chowk of Arnia on Monday to protest against the Pakistan army for frequently violating a 2003 ceasefire, as well as the Indian government’s inability to deal with the situation. Anger is growing among residents who are living alongside the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu, which has been bearing the brunt of recent ceasefire violations by Pakistani rangers. They are asking only one question; when will peace return to their lives? But for the moment, no one seems to have an answer. [caption id=“attachment_1745903” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Blood-stained courtyard in Arnia village after a villager was killed by Pakistan firing on Monday. Reuters[/caption] A sporadic surge has been witnessed in incidents of ceasefire violations since early August, and like always, the worst affected are the people living near the border. The firing, which generally takes place during the night or in the wee hours of the morning, leaves a trail of destruction and devastation. Residents leave their homes at night and return to find their houses damaged, farms destroyed and livestock perished. And most of them have to start rebuilding their lives from scratch, only to see everything destroyed once again when a new incident of firing happens. That is what happened on Monday night and early Tuesday morning where firing killed five people and injured 34. The villagers who stayed back in the border areas of Arnia belt, had to sleep in under ground bunkers. Like they do, always, during these kinds of firing incidents. Late on Monday Pakistani rangers, according to defense officials, attacked at least 10 border outposts and civilian areas along the international border from 10 pm spilling over to this morning. Vinod Yadav, a BSF spokesperson said Pakistani Rangers again resorted to unprovoked mortar shelling and heavy firing on BSF posts along the IB last night. On 25 August Indian and Pakistan security officials sought to ease tensions after two weeks of fighting that had killed at least six people and left thousands homeless on both sides. On the Indian side, thousands of villagers living near the border in Jammu region were forced to abandon their homes. They continued to live in temporary shelter provided by the state government for months. It was only recently that they returned hoping against hope the firing won’t happen again and make them refugees in their own land. “We are back refuges in our own land, and like before our live have been devastated again ” Satnam Singh, 45, a resident of Pindi village in Arnia sector, said. The cross-border artillery and mortar fire has marked one of the most severe escalations of violence along the boundary between Indian and Pakistan in recent years, and has led to a sharp deterioration in relations between India and Pakistan. In Monday’s firing a 13-year-old girl and two women were killed when Pakistani rangers fired at Indian posts and villages in the Arnia sector of Jammu at around 1.30 am. Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters in New Delhi that Pakistan should stop the ceasefire violations and “understand the reality has changed in India,” trying to make a point that PM Narendra Modi’s government would not tolerate the ceasefire violations. But, that reality has still not changed for people living on these tense border and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, who burned Pakistani flags and shouted slogans against the Pakistani army on Monday. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who flew to Jammu to meet the effected families in the shelling from across the border, said the killing of innocent civilians in the shelling from across the border on occasion of Eid is all the more shocking. “The centre needs to make sure this kind of situation needs to be resolved as soon as possible,” he said. However Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha says the persistent and repeated incidents of ceasefire violations committed by Pakistani forces is a source of constant agony and mental stress for the people of border areas. “That deaths of our Jawans and civilians on the borders have become a regular feature ever since the NDA government has come to power,” he said. But these statements won’t satisfy thousands of residents affected by the violence in Jammu, who are calling for a tough response this time against Pakistan.