Troops busy fencing LoC

BARAF POST, Tangdar LoC: With border residents having had a sigh of relief after implementation of Eid ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in November, the troops are busy accomplishing the task of fencing at a cost of Rs 400 crores along LoC so as to prevent infiltration of armed militants from across.
Although villagers in Tangdar sector largely appreciate role of Army in providing job opportunities to the youth, yet they clamour for better deal by the Jammu and Kashmir government as well as by Centre for overall development of the villages along the LoC.
The LoC fencing and multi-tier security system may not be all encompassing, but will certainly deter the terrorists and thus make their tasks more difficult. Most the villagers in border areas are feeling more secure, Brigadier Rajinder Singh, a senior Army officer said.
Snow post known in local parlance as Baraf post, 200 km from Srinagar in Tangdar sector, was the worst hit during shelling leading to a large number of civilian casualties. Fencing work at this post, has also picked up pace after the ceasefire.
"It is going on throughout. We are going to continue laying it. And some stretches which cannot be laid now because of the snow and other conditions, we will keep laying it as soon as (weather) conditions permit. We intend completing the whole exercise by middle of next year," said Brigadier Singh.
He said, the ceasefire has enabled the troops to work in a more vigorous manner.
The LoC begins in southern Kashmir and passes through very rough terrain that includes mountains, jungles and snow-bound passes before ending at the Siachen Glacier to the north.
Expressing his satisfaction over the fencing work, Brigadier Singh said the fencing would be effective adding he said, "terrorists will not be able to breach it anywhere. Their success rate of moving into the hinterland will significantly come down."
People living in Teetwal village in Tangdar sector, who are separated from Pakistan only by the river Kishan Ganga, are seem going right upto the border to wave their hands as a mark of goodwill to the people living in a Teetwal village occupied by Pakistan.
The villages on both sides of Kishan Ganga are so close that people can actually talk to each other across the river especially women on either side as they wash clothes by the River Banj. Schools on both sides have also reopened and students are playing without any fear and despite all this people are still skeptical about this fragile peace.
According to Pir Abdul Hamid, a local, the people in the border areas want India and Pakistan to reach at a long lasting agreement to maintain peace.
Abdul Khaliq Khan, a resident of Teetwal said that both state as well as Central governments were insensitive to the problems of the border villages. He said the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed also made some promises during his last visit, for developing Teetwal village but nothing was done to ameliorate the lot of people of this border village.
Manzoor Ahmad Khokar, head of village, asked for grant of backward status to village Teetwal. He said the students of this village need to travel 12 km down to attend high school in Tangdar.