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Militancy victim alleges raw deal
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Buddhal (Rajouri), June 23
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh may have done quite well in providing respite to the Kashmiri migrants by announcing a package for them, but he seems to have done precious little for the militancy affected migrants of the Jammu region.

Three families whose 11 members were slaughtered by militants forcing them to migrate from their native villages of Dhar and Gabbar, allege that though the government is providing all sought of relief to Kashmiri migrants, it forgot us and failed to provide any relief.

Shanti Devi (45), whose husband Soba Ram Sharma (50) and son Sudesh Sharma (22) of Dhar village were among 11 persons slaughtered by militants on October 9, 2005 in twin villages of Dhar and Gabbar, has always found it hard to sustain her family of four members.

A child holds the picture of his father, who was killed by militants, in a migrant camp in Buddhal. — Photo by writer

After the incident, Shanti along with other members of her family migrated from their village and were forced (due to fear of militants strikes) to live in sub-human conditions in a damaged building of the Agriculture Department here.

Her only source of income is a land measuring about 30 kanals on which their tenant, a Muslim nomad (Gujjar), Shamas Din, raises crops and gives a part of the harvest to the family.

Though Shanti Devi has resolved to educate her sons for their better future, at times she finds herself helpless due to financial crisis.

“After militants slaughtered my husband and son, I couldn’t cry and hide the shock that I suffered due to their death. I knew my husband had left behind many responsibilities,” says Shanti with tears in her eyes.

“Even as the government gave us compensation of Rs 1 lakh for each member of our family slaughtered by militants, they didn’t provide us any relief after that. We gave several representations to the district administration but nothing happened.”

“Even as Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh announced a special package for Kashmiri migrants, he forgot to provide relief for us. If they have migrated from the valley due to fear of getting killed by militants, our family members have been actually killed by militants,” she demanded. “The government should also compensate us on the pattern of Kashmiri migrants.”

Rafiq Sheikh, deputy commissioner, Rajouri, confirms that the migrants are not being provided relief and says they were compensated at the time of killings of their members.

“We have forwarded their cases to the higher authorities so that they are provided relief,” the DC said.