Border villages lack basic amenities

Some poor villagers said the Sialkot border villages still remain deprived of better health, education, communication, drinking water and other basic facilities, negating the claim of the district government regarding enhancing the living standard of the people.

They said due to the shortage of public transport in these areas, people were forced to travel in buses and wagons like animals. This critical situation caused overloading resulting in fatal accidents.

They alleged that the local government had never paid attention to the development of these border areas. "Now, the situation is totally peaceful, and the government can easily initiate development schemes in these villages by giving up the old excuse of border tension," some villagers said.

The tense situation has returned to normal, and there is a complete peace in the border villages now-a-days. Harvesting of crops is in full swing as the government has already made payment at the rate of Rs14,000 per acre as compensation to the villagers whose fields were brought under land-mining by the Pakistan armed forces. Official sources told newsmen that now these villages had been cleared of land mines enabling the growers to cultivate their crops.

Talking to visiting newsmen in the border villages of Kingra, Bajra Garhi, Umraanwali and Harpal the other day, the villagers protested against the uninterrupted telecast of anti-Pakistan Indian movies by the Sialkot-based cable operators. They said inspite of repeated appeals made by them, the district government had not taken any action against these operators.

Some villagers said: "We are loyal and patriotic Pakistanis, and can never bear to see obscene, anti-Pakistan movies on the cable network. Thus, we have decided to disconnect our cable connections."

The people have alleged that the authorities have failed to remove the fault in PTV's booster near Pasrur, due to which the transmission of PTV is not clearly visible in Pasrur tehsil's border villages. Reportedly, the transmissions of the Indian TV Door Darshan are clearly visible in border villages.