As the Pakistani nation and people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir observe Kashmir Solidarity Day today (Sunday), the divided families on both side of the Line of Control seek the world’s attention to help them reunite.
More than 5,000 families, who migrated from different areas of Indian held Kashmir in 1989 due to insurgency there, were anxiously waiting for the settlement of the issue to return to their homes.
Manzoor Shaikh, a resident of Mahajer Colony No 2 in Muzaffarabad migrated from Karna area of Kapwara district in 1993. He said he was alone here and missing his loved ones a lot.
The 45-year-old said he was a school teacher there and living happily with his family when he was terrified by the consecutive Indian army raids on his house and was forced to leave to save his life as was advised by his elders.
He said he had migrated to AJK alone leaving behind his family as he was quite young at that time and his family wanted to save him from the cruel army that might have taken his life if he had stayed there. He said there had been more than 500 raids in his village during which the army picked up dozens of youth including some of his best friends and none of them came back alive after which his family suggested him to save his life. Shaikh said he and his friends fled from their homes with the hope that they would return soon after the settlement of the Kashmir issue and withdrawal of the Indian army, as they were confident that international community would intervene but were disappointed and were now only praying to meet their loved ones.
Another immigrant from the same district living in Rara Mahajer camp in the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, Hadayatullah
Shaikh said he fled with his wife and five children in 1993 but had left the rest of his relatives behind. “I am a
labourer here and hardly manage food for my children while my land is going uncultivated,” he said in a painful manner, adding that he had never lost hope of returning during his lifetime.
Shaikh said however, it was painful for him that he could not even attend the funerals of many of his friends and relatives. He said people in IHK never accepted Indian rule nor would they do so in the future and one day they would
surely get freedom as their fourth generation was struggling for freedom.
He said there had been a search operation every night in his village near LoC, which forced him to escape to save
the honor of his daughters and wife.
However, they were unhappy with the recent measures of travel and trade on the LoC, as they said India had complicated
the process of clearance for traveling across the LoC, and did not allow those who crossed in 1989 and onwards to travel through this bus services.
“This facility is useless for people like us to travel and meet our relatives there as Indian authorities considered
militant those who migrated during this recent movement of 1989 to get rid of Indian atrocities,” they said.
They said there should be free movement on the LoC by producing state subject certificate of either side so that families divided since decades could reunite. A member of the All Parties Hurriat Conference (APHC), Syed Yousaf Naseem said the international community should at least focus the human tragedy of this issue. He said the Kashmiri leadership had accepted the so-called confidence building measures (CBMs) of General Mushraf only for addressing this aspect of the issue but went in vain, as India created hurdles by imposing unnecessary conditions on travel.