105 families displaced by Kargil War waiting for resettlement
Safdar Ali Safdar
Skardu, June 26: Fourteen years have passed since at least 105 families living in border villages lost their land and other properties due to the Kargil War, fought between Pakistan and India. Sheltered ever since in partially damaged houses and tents in Brolmo village (73 families) and Gangani village (32 families), these people have been waiting for resettlement in the region, to be able to start living with dignity, again!
Their efforts to gain attention of the Gilgit-Baltistan government and the district administration have badly failed, save for some lip service every now and then, and they are forced to live in misery; housed in temporary shelters, without access to basic amenities of life, like health and education.
“ Our houses and all property were damaged during the Kargil War due to shelling from Indian troops and have not been reconstructed despite repeated appeals to the district administration and provincial government”.
“We do not know why the government does not take interest in resolving our problems”, said Nambardar Ghulam Muhammad, Mawlana Ramzani and others while talking to the media in Skardu. They said that many of their family members are living on the other side of the LoC and they have not been able to meet them for more than a decade.
The Pakistan Red Crescent Society Gilgit-Baltistan (PRCS) has provided tents and other relief items to few of the most vulnerable victims on request of the Deputy Commissioner Skardu, informed Mumtaz Hussain, district in-charge of PRCS Skardu. He recently visited the two villages where the people are living, to distribute relief items. He said that the infrastructure in the area is completely destroyed and victims are facing a lot of problems.
Representatives of the affected people told the media that living in the border area has always been a source of threat and they do not see a secure future in the times ahead. They are demanding resettlement in some urban setting, where they can earn enough to make both ends meet. They also demand opening of the Kargil road to facilitate movement across the border and to be able to meet their families.
rehabilitation of affected people is most vital
This is ridiculous ! Can someone explain me… First why we have a governor? second, why we have a chief minister/secretary? and so on… If they can’t do something good for us then you should shut your mouth for the sake of this piece of peace GB.
GB wants to be a parallel Provence to Punjab, KPK or Sindh with all equal rights but our Govt has been ignoring and fooling us since ages now. If you have stood up to become a leader then perform as a real leader and get the rights to GB, or if you have stood up just to have some publicity, fame, illegal power or to make money then get the hell out of GB. You know how many people are serving in Pak Army from GB? you know how many army from the area got martyred in name of terrorism? and you here not being able to get a single right… You are fail to be a leader, you are fail to increase PIA flights to Gilgit and you know how our people are suffering because of it, and you also know how many innocent people killed in Kohistan for no reason….
Tourism was the only source of income after crops, now its going back to 9/11 because of your least interest in to this and ignorance.
Now I feel sorry for the area that even all youth is divided in to parts and joined different political and religious parties, what a shame.
we need peace, harmony, love and loyalty, if you agree then get yourself among us and work for independence.
The frustration is not letting me compose properly as their are millions of problems created you for GBians.
@Naxeem it’s the primary responsibility of GBians to secure their fundamental rights, but when you elect corrupt and incompetent leaders then be prepared to face the consequences. 1st parties allied to Musharraf took power but didn’t advocate for greater rights instead enjoying the reins of their rule and then you have this current ppp regime who just for a token namesake put GB on map but continued filling its pockets while looting the people of GB.
Quite intriguing that so many GBians spend their working days in Punjab,hazara , if its 1 province that has been the most tolerant for outsiders to come work, study then its been Punjab where even our own people don’t have enough jobs, no wonder we ourselves have to look for jobs abroad.
Punjabis can’t even own land/properties IN GB while afghans/ pashtoons have forcefully occupied entire neighbourhoods in Gilgit city. GB leaders prefer working from Islamabad/Rawalpindi villas then being on the ground with people of GB. We HAVE lost much more from tourism in the last 7 years than any other province. So what investment ARE you talking about? Discrimination is not a 1 way street.
PMLn has been fooling people of Punjab by giving incentives to other provinces and ignoring areas outside Lahore. Well now since it’s IN the federal government- it has a last chance to prove its sincerity and give full & equal rights to all provinces in the country otherwise there might not even be a Pakistan tomorrow if things continue the way they are.
Shahzaib .