The allegation was denied at that time by the then GoC 19-Infantry Division, Major General Bipin Rawat, who, through his officers had communicated to the Pakistani delegation that no bunkers or structures were being constructed. “We told them that the structures in Churunda village were old and not new and that their firing and shelling was unprovoked. We were just renovating some of posts and no fresh posts or bunkers were being constructed,” he told Kashmir Life.

Soldiers watching their counterparts on the other side of the divide : Photo: Abid Nabi
Soldiers watching their counterparts on the other side of the divide : Photo: Abid Nabi

Regardless of who provoked the recent skirmishes, the truth is that the victims of ceasefire violation along this sector have mostly been the natives of Charunda village who have been living on a razor edge since the armed militancy erupted in the valley. The village where 1319 persons of 234 families live has a unique geographical proximity to LoC. After Indian Army begun raising a fence along the 720 km LoC, some villages like Churunda inadvertently fell on the Pakistani side of the barbed wire fence. This happened when incessant shelling by Pakistani rangers forced the Indian Army to move the fence a little inside Indian territory that left some villages on the wrong side of fence. The village is surrounded on both sides by LoC fencing made of coils of concertina wire. The villagers say that even if they want to leave during the shelling, they can’t.

With blood relations on the other side of the divide, Uri is one of the few places where the population did not get directly involved in militancy, though a few men from the area took to arms during the initial days of militancy in Kashmir. But the security agencies did not give the population any benefit as a section of the border guides belonged to this place and they suspected that the local population could not be oblivious to the nocturnal movement of militants as they sneaked into the Pakistani side of LoC for arms training.

The ceasefire agreement signed by India and Pakistan in Nov 2003 had made the life of the villagers much more comfortable then before. Since last four months, according to villagers, as the shelling has resumed, their life has once again become miserable. Since the fencing began in 2003, the residents can move in the area only after they have special I-cards jointly issued by the Army and J&K police.

“We must deposit our I-cards at the checkpoint every time we leave or enter the village,” Lal Din Ahmad, Sarpanch of Churunda, says, adding, “No one wants to come to our village, not even our relatives. We lost three people because of the shelling and it has been going on intermittently.”

Every time the shelling starts, it sends shivers down the spine of Altaf Ahmad who lost his brother in Oct 16 firing last year when three civilians were killed after Pakistani rangers opened fire on Indian Army pickets. At around 6 am, shells allegedly fired from Pakistani side landed in the village following which there was heavy exchange of fire between the armies of two countries. In that fatal incident, a pregnant women, Shaheena Bano, also lost her life.

“That was one of the incidents in the brutal history of this unfortunate village. But it was not the first and it won’t be the last. Both nations should actually solve every dispute once and for all so that people like us who live on LoC won’t suffer,” an eighty-year-old Aleem Dim, a resident of Charunda told Kashmir Life.

Located barely hundred meters from LOC, the village suffered maximum damage in the devastating 2005 earthquake. About 31 people were killed, 12 were seriously wounded and 62 livestock perished. The village was nearly flattened by the tremors. The Army later adopted the village under Operation Sadbhavna and 230 houses were constructed. A road link was built to the village and construction of bus stand, grain store, veterinary centre, tiled pathways inside the village, school building, modern four-bed dispensary, vocational training centre for women were ensured. But that didn’t change the fate of its residents. While the trade between the two countries has begun and people-to-people interactions have intensified, it hasn’t made any difference to the lives of the residents of Charunda who are under constant fear of death.

“There is no doubt that Army helped us and they continue to do so. But how can they shield us from heavy mortar shells from the Pakistani side in the middle of the night,” says Tariq, a resident of the village.

GoC 19th Infantry Division, VG Khandare denies pakistani claims that his troops crossed over : Photo: Abid Nabi
GoC 19th Infantry Division, VG Khandare denies pakistani claims that his troops crossed over — Photo: Abid Nabi

On Sunday, when I visited the village, I went up to a bunker situated near LoC. It was empty, barring some plastic bottles and an empty matchbox. There was no sign of construction activity. The bunker is in the vicinity of three houses where villagers are still living. Salaam Din, one of the villagers, says there is no peace in the village. The border is precarious and imaginary. A small stream, which remains dry for most time of the year, divides Churunda and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Around 25 families had migrated to the other side of the divide in early nineties when a hut, in which three families used to live, was divided by LoC. The village has more mine blast victims than any other village in Uri region.

“That villagers live on the other side of the fence does not mean that we have left them to Pakistan. Our posts are also on the other side of fence. And we are there to look after the grievances of the people,” says one of the officers of the Army.

Churunda’s Sarpanch, Lal Din Ahmad, says the state government had promised them to make concrete bunkers for people but nothing has happened. He says it was important to have such bunkers near schools so that children can take cover during shelling and firing. “As of now, the villagers are feeling caged in their own land,” he says.

As I prepared to leave the village, I spotted Deedar. He looked depressed but he had come all the way from his home to see me off at the fenced gate which separates the village. I kept thinking about Deeder’s life and his never ending fear for a long time and about the life of his children and other villagers caged inside their own land by the arrogance of two hysterical nations.

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