02-23-2006, 12:24 AM
Inside PoK
LUV PURI
A diary of a 15-day trip through a fascinating but troubled region.
DEVASTATION: Earthquake survivors near Muzaffarabad try to rebuild their lives. Photo: REUTERS
UNDER the new permit system, which allows movement of civilians on both sides of the Line of Control, I am granted permission to travel to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
I have permission for 15 days and my excitement at visiting what was until recently a forbidden land increases when I reach the Mendhar-Tattapani crossing point. Pakistani authorities tell me I am the first Indian reporter to have received permission to cross the LoC.
Journey's beginning
I begin from the Mirpur division, which unlike the northern region is more prosperous and has a kinder climate. Apparently, word of my visit has leaked. To my surprise, a group of people comes to receive me along the LoC. Some more are waiting at my hotel in Kotli town, my first destination, situated along the Poonch. Conversing in Pahari, which is similar to Punjabi, helps me strike an immediate rapport.
After a night's rest, the Gujjar community invites me to Nikiyal tehsil, a hilly pocket of Kotli district. This is the assembly constituency of PoK's Prime Minister, Sikandar Hayat Khan. Palatial houses dot the hills and fairly good roads lead to the villages. Says my host, Chowdhary Bashir, a community leader: "Most of the people have spent Rs.10 million to construct a house here as every family has a relative in Europe."
Migration to Europe has been going on for the last five decades, but many return to build a house here. A local moulvi, Sadaq Hussain, invites me for dinner. Even he seems to have benefited from the diaspora. Over the meal, he tells me that many of the locals settled abroad send their kids to him for short-term religious courses; they pay him what they can.
Mirpur, three hours from Kotli, is my next stop. I have heard of this city since I was a child. My mother hailed from here before migrating to India in 1947. Being here thus has a special significance.
Mirpur has been a politically sensitive place for the Pakistan Government since the construction of Mangla dam on the Jhelum in the 1960s. This caused the submergence of the original Mirpur city, causing the displacement of over 1,00,000 people. Considering the magnitude of the displacement, the rehabilitation measures did not satisfy the affected people.
Local resentment over inadequate compensation or non-payment of royalties to the region remains strong. Now, plans to further raise the dam's height have heightened concerns about the fate of another 8,000 families.
All PoK, like Jammu on India's side of the LoC, witnessed terrible communal rioting in 1947. But signs of a syncretic culture, which held society together for centuries, are visible. I am taken to the old city that was submerged by the dam. Since the level of water is low, the residential area is an island and can be accessed by asteamer.the Remains of the old city reveal an old temple, miraculously intact and a dargah of Pir Mir Shah, where both Muslims and Hindus once prayed.
Says Riaz Inqualibi, a longstanding political activist of Mirpur: "Even when Hindus left this area, nobody dared touch this temple. Even when the dam was constructed, no labourer was willing to demolish the place of worship."
Historical significance
Mirpur has a special place in sub-continent's history. The famous battle between Alexandar and Porus was fought here in 323 BC. There is also the dargah of Mian Mohammad Baksh Sahib, a mystic poet and author of Saifulmalook, a collection of Sufi folk songs popular among both Muslims and Hindus.
I am reminded of an incident in Poonch in 2001 when Lashkar militants from Mirpur kidnapped a Hindu teacher. When the teacher sang songs from Saifulmalook, the militants asked him how he had learnt it. The teacher said that his mother had taught him the songs and the militants freed him.
The sentiment for softer borders is particularly intense in Bhimber, the southernmost tip of PoK, which borders Pakistan's Sialkot district. Barnala is a border town of Bhimber tehsil.
Saeed Assad, a well-known author, invites me for a get-together with the locals. To my astonishment, it turns out to be a big gathering in a packed hall. Speaker after speaker urges me to take back the message that they wanted the routes to be opened. "We want to interact with people across the Line of Control. Besides helping divided families, the peace constituency on both sides of LoC should be strengthened," says Munir Hussian Chowdhary, a lawyer and peace activist.
Zone of tents
The final leg of my journey is to the northern belt of PoK. This gives an insight into the destruction caused by the quake and the relief work being done by various agencies. Bright signposts in yellow and red describe the Jamait-Ul-Dawa's philanthropic work as I enter PoK through the famous Kohala Bridge that adjoins the Hazara district of the North West Frontier Province.
Here, Maharaja Hari Singh, who ruled Kashmir before accession, arrested Jawaharlal Nehru for demanding the end of monarchy and the introduction of democratic rule. Nehru had come as a lawyer in support of Sheikh Abdullah. Muzaffarabad city, including much of the northern belt, has become a zone of tents. Rebuilding houses seems to have barely got under way in many places.
The Jamait-Ul-Dawa, which many consider a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, is presently in the forefront carrying out relief operations in Muzaffarabad and the Neelum valley.
Fifteen days is too short a time to understand an area of such complexity. But I leave PoK feeling I am much better informed about this side of the LoC than I ever was. It is much more than a mere terror laboratory. Any solution to the Kashmir problem will hinge on a better understanding of the ground realities in this fascinating region.
LUV PURI
A diary of a 15-day trip through a fascinating but troubled region.
DEVASTATION: Earthquake survivors near Muzaffarabad try to rebuild their lives. Photo: REUTERS
UNDER the new permit system, which allows movement of civilians on both sides of the Line of Control, I am granted permission to travel to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
I have permission for 15 days and my excitement at visiting what was until recently a forbidden land increases when I reach the Mendhar-Tattapani crossing point. Pakistani authorities tell me I am the first Indian reporter to have received permission to cross the LoC.
Journey's beginning
I begin from the Mirpur division, which unlike the northern region is more prosperous and has a kinder climate. Apparently, word of my visit has leaked. To my surprise, a group of people comes to receive me along the LoC. Some more are waiting at my hotel in Kotli town, my first destination, situated along the Poonch. Conversing in Pahari, which is similar to Punjabi, helps me strike an immediate rapport.
After a night's rest, the Gujjar community invites me to Nikiyal tehsil, a hilly pocket of Kotli district. This is the assembly constituency of PoK's Prime Minister, Sikandar Hayat Khan. Palatial houses dot the hills and fairly good roads lead to the villages. Says my host, Chowdhary Bashir, a community leader: "Most of the people have spent Rs.10 million to construct a house here as every family has a relative in Europe."
Migration to Europe has been going on for the last five decades, but many return to build a house here. A local moulvi, Sadaq Hussain, invites me for dinner. Even he seems to have benefited from the diaspora. Over the meal, he tells me that many of the locals settled abroad send their kids to him for short-term religious courses; they pay him what they can.
Mirpur, three hours from Kotli, is my next stop. I have heard of this city since I was a child. My mother hailed from here before migrating to India in 1947. Being here thus has a special significance.
Mirpur has been a politically sensitive place for the Pakistan Government since the construction of Mangla dam on the Jhelum in the 1960s. This caused the submergence of the original Mirpur city, causing the displacement of over 1,00,000 people. Considering the magnitude of the displacement, the rehabilitation measures did not satisfy the affected people.
Local resentment over inadequate compensation or non-payment of royalties to the region remains strong. Now, plans to further raise the dam's height have heightened concerns about the fate of another 8,000 families.
All PoK, like Jammu on India's side of the LoC, witnessed terrible communal rioting in 1947. But signs of a syncretic culture, which held society together for centuries, are visible. I am taken to the old city that was submerged by the dam. Since the level of water is low, the residential area is an island and can be accessed by asteamer.the Remains of the old city reveal an old temple, miraculously intact and a dargah of Pir Mir Shah, where both Muslims and Hindus once prayed.
Says Riaz Inqualibi, a longstanding political activist of Mirpur: "Even when Hindus left this area, nobody dared touch this temple. Even when the dam was constructed, no labourer was willing to demolish the place of worship."
Historical significance
Mirpur has a special place in sub-continent's history. The famous battle between Alexandar and Porus was fought here in 323 BC. There is also the dargah of Mian Mohammad Baksh Sahib, a mystic poet and author of Saifulmalook, a collection of Sufi folk songs popular among both Muslims and Hindus.
I am reminded of an incident in Poonch in 2001 when Lashkar militants from Mirpur kidnapped a Hindu teacher. When the teacher sang songs from Saifulmalook, the militants asked him how he had learnt it. The teacher said that his mother had taught him the songs and the militants freed him.
The sentiment for softer borders is particularly intense in Bhimber, the southernmost tip of PoK, which borders Pakistan's Sialkot district. Barnala is a border town of Bhimber tehsil.
Saeed Assad, a well-known author, invites me for a get-together with the locals. To my astonishment, it turns out to be a big gathering in a packed hall. Speaker after speaker urges me to take back the message that they wanted the routes to be opened. "We want to interact with people across the Line of Control. Besides helping divided families, the peace constituency on both sides of LoC should be strengthened," says Munir Hussian Chowdhary, a lawyer and peace activist.
Zone of tents
The final leg of my journey is to the northern belt of PoK. This gives an insight into the destruction caused by the quake and the relief work being done by various agencies. Bright signposts in yellow and red describe the Jamait-Ul-Dawa's philanthropic work as I enter PoK through the famous Kohala Bridge that adjoins the Hazara district of the North West Frontier Province.
Here, Maharaja Hari Singh, who ruled Kashmir before accession, arrested Jawaharlal Nehru for demanding the end of monarchy and the introduction of democratic rule. Nehru had come as a lawyer in support of Sheikh Abdullah. Muzaffarabad city, including much of the northern belt, has become a zone of tents. Rebuilding houses seems to have barely got under way in many places.
The Jamait-Ul-Dawa, which many consider a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, is presently in the forefront carrying out relief operations in Muzaffarabad and the Neelum valley.
Fifteen days is too short a time to understand an area of such complexity. But I leave PoK feeling I am much better informed about this side of the LoC than I ever was. It is much more than a mere terror laboratory. Any solution to the Kashmir problem will hinge on a better understanding of the ground realities in this fascinating region.