Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, November 20

While mines and IEDs keep killing and maiming villagers in forward areas close to the border, mines remain embedded in 30,000 kanals (3,717.6027 acres) of fertile land in Jammu district alone.
These mines were planted during Operation Vijay in 1999 and Operation Parakram in 2001-02. For the Army, this land in Jammu was indispensable from the security point of view. Hence, it cannot be returned, at least for now.
Sayeed Ghulam Nabi of the Sabzian sector in Poonch said the mines posed a serious threat to lives of farmers, children, shepherds and cattle. “Those who die are fortunate because those who lose their limbs become a curse for themselves and their families,” he added.
Mines still existed in Sagra Gali, Krishna Ghati, Balakote, Brutti, Darra Sangla, Noorkote, Nakkarkote, Uppar Digwar, CRPF Dhok, Makhyari area, Forward Chaprian, Shahpur and Guntrian, added Nabi.
Rifat Arra of Terwan village said villagers living in forward areas walked on razor’s edge. “Besides Pakistani firing, the mines have killed and injured the poor. We fear going to fields and pastures because one never knows the exact placement of these mines, which drift in rain,” she said.
Junaid Khan of Guntrian said the mines had hit livelihood. He said the fear of stepping on a mine had reached such an extent that villagers staying in in hamlets had stopped cultivating their fields and grazing cattle.
He said while villagers got killed and hurt, they had not been paid any compensation by governments in the state and at the Centre.
The Army admitted that farmers whose land was used for mines and fencing had not been paid any compensation. Abdul Gani of Shahpur echoed similar views.
After Operation Parakram in 2001-02, the Army decided that certain portions of mined farmland would be demined and returned to farmers. Twelve years on, the process is still on.
On November 13, the Army demined 296 kanals (37 acres) in the Jourian area of Akhnoor in Jammu district. A total of 30,000 kanals of farmland in Jammu district was still mined, said official sources.
Jammu Deputy Commissioner Simrandeep Singh hoped that the Army would demine the land. It was stated in a survey that 1,076 persons died and 2,570 injured in mine and IED blasts in the state till 2012.