‘War? Really? TV puts our lives at risk’

Chandigarh

Raja (35) of Jamsher Mohar village in Fazilka on the India-Pakistan border is married to his first cousin, who would address him as ‘Veera’ (brother) earlier. Trying to hide his embarrassment, his 70-year-old father explains: “Our village is surrounded by a barbed wire. Nobody wants matrimonial ties with a village where each one is frisked by BSF personnel. There are no factories for jobs, few schools and no colleges.

“We are treated as intruders in our own land.” He walks away, shaking his head.

Life interrupted, the discomfort is evident on the visages of residents of 221 villages along the 553-km-long Radcliffe Line that divides India and Pakistan. Owing to border tension, the residents have been forced out of their homes at least 20 times in the past five years and shifted to tents, gurdwaras and dharamshalas, some taking shelter with their relatives.

Peeved at the government’s apathy to their plight, voters of Toor Chebe village in Pathankot have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha elections. Surjit Singh of Simbhal Sakol village located on Zero Line says, “Every election, the Congress and SAD-BJP promise to work for our rehabilitation. Later, all is forgotten. In the last parliamentary elections, we were promised a bridge and four trucks carrying building material arrived at our village overnight. Five years later, the material is still lying unused.”

Sarpanch Harpreet Singh ‘Rinku’ of Dala village in Gurdaspur district sees lack of bridges as the biggest problem in the area, affecting thousands of lives. “The situation has been worse this year because of untimely rains. We can’t grow tall crops such as sugarcane because of security reasons. We can’t use big machines. So our land remains under-utilised,” he laments.

Former sarpanch of Jamsher Mohar village Chinna Singh is angry with overzealous television anchors rooting for war. “They need to be checked. They may inadvertently put our lives at risk,” he says.

Ajay Chaudhary, the village head of Taloor village, says border residents, especially the youth, have little interest in election rallies. “They are well aware of the profile of parties and candidates in the fray. Refusing to be carried away by fiery political rhetoric, they will make up their mind after weighing all pros and cons.”

Author of a study ‘Problems of Families on the Border of Punjab’, Dr Jagrup Singh Sekhon says the border belt has been ignored by successive governments. “Pre-Independence, this area was the most educated in the country. Today, while the overall literacy rate in Punjab is 75 per cent, it is just 62 per cent in the border districts. Border tension and drug smuggling have made it worse for the inhabitants,” he says.Representing border constituency Ferozepur, Minister for Sports Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi says: “Our government has written to the Centre for a compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre per year for farmers with land across the border fence. We have also sought that the Hussainiwala border be opened for trade.”

Senior BJP leader from Pathankot Ashwani Sharma points out that the PM during a rally in Pathankot recently having acknowledged the area as sensitive, will “definitely” announce relief for the residents.