“You never know when the shells will come. But when they land and explode, it seems like ‘qayymat’ that the maulvi sahib tells us about in sermons,” says Safdar*.

A resident of Joiyaan, a small village situated along the working boundary in Sialkot, the 10-year old talks animatedly about the sound of gunfire and shelling which has become a routine for him for the past few years.

Since July 2014, ‘unprovoked’ sniper attacks and shelling by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) has made the lives of at least 50,000 people on this side of the Indo-Pak border a living nightmare. While the adults have their fair share of worries, the young ones seemed to have made peace with the reality of mortar shells.

According to the data shared by Pakistan Rangers, BSF has indulged in 81 ceasefire violations between 2011 and 2014, with a steady increase since 2015. The most affected sectors include Chaprar, Bajwat Sector, Mearajkey, Pasrur Sector and Shakargarh Sector.

Fourteen-year old Samira of Sialkot’s Aasi Nagar was one of the youngest victims, killed in shelling early in January. Many of the injured include children who usually get hurt due to the shattered glass or falling debris.

“The Indians (usually) start shelling after 9pm and sometimes it continues till the Fajr prayers. I can’t even sleep properly. And when we move to my uncle’s house in another village, I have to leave my things behind,” moans Safdar.

His friends have similar views to share, which range from how too many off days from school meant staying confined to their homes and hence “no playtime” to what will happen if a bullet hits them.

“Someday I will grow up and join the army and will fight them (Indians) back. Now, if I come across an Indian soldier, I will pelt him with stones,” he says cheekily, his taller friends bursting out in laughter.

While Safdar and his friends seem to care little, conflict seems to have taken its toll on the children. The parents say that many children don’t express an interest in studies any longer, others live a terrified existence.

Adnan*, a six-year old, suffers from anxiety attacks and nightmares since he saw the blood soaked body of his father who was killed last year in an early morning shelling attack.

His mother says the child refuses to play with his friends and hides himself in the room for hours.

Then there is Saira*, (5) who witnessed her buffalo screaming in pain for hours after being struck by a shell.

“She doesn’t want to go to the school. She wets the bed often and anytime we have to make a run for our lives, it seems like I am carrying a frozen doll. She just stiffens up,” her mother says.

Dropout rates increasing

Adjacent to the acres of blossoming mustard fields is the Government Elementary School Joyiaan village.
Due to the cold weather and lack of any heating source, classes are often held outside in the courtyard.

“The children here are so affected by the incidents that all they do is talk about bombs and shelling,” says Razia Begum, the headmistress of the school, adding, “The number of drop-outs has gone up and this can’t be blamed on poverty.”

According to a Unesco report released in 2014, Pakistan has some 5.5 million out-of-school children, ranking it second after Nigeria. The country is also in the company of India and China when it comes to the highest number of illiterate adults.

“The daily skirmishes have made life very difficult for the people. Last year, I had well over 300 children in the school, but since the increase in shelling attacks, the number has dropped to barely 180. Parents are too scared to send their children to school,” she says.

She recalled how last year, a rickshaw diver who dropped the village children at school, was killed in a shelling attack.

“The children were still traumatised by that incident when the Army Public School attack happened. We were all stunned for days. So many people pulled their children out of the school after that,” she added.

“It’s not just fear though. It’s also the financial losses that the community is suffering. Every second day, someone or the other is left with a broken roof and shattered glass windows thanks to the BSF shelling. Many people often leave the village to live with their families in nearby villages. These moves are incurring extra expenditure,” she explained.

Nasreen Bibi, an elderly matriarch, says that she told her son not to send the children to school.

“We saw the Army Public School attack news on our TV screens and we realised how unprotected the children are. For days, the villages mourned the loss of lives in Peshawar and at the same time we dreaded the Indians attacking us. Once the schools reopened in January, I told my family not to send the kids to schools. This might be the only way of keeping our children safe,” she says.

Long lasting implication

“Ideally, the children need to be taken out of the negative environment but this doesn’t seem to be an option for those caught in conflict zones. The more stress you have in a war zone, the more your body will respond to it negatively. The children growing up in this situation will grow up being indifferent,” says Dr Kiran Bashir Ahmed, a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University, Karachi.

“The daily shelling and firing incidents are stressful enough and the body is in constant flight mode. What begins as anxiety will eventually degenerate into apathy and indifference. Once a child becomes indifferent to the violence around him, he can be misused too,” she adds.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the misuse of children can range from physical and sexual abuse to brainwashing them and using them as suicide bombers.

Dr Ahmed says stress at such young age can lead to nervous breakdown. “A person can lose his or her sense of reality. Addictive behaviours are also common.”

She says that as their minds mature, these children will question if they are any lesser Pakistanis.

“If we call these children the future of our country, why not take care of them? The government needs to initiate some scheme for mental well-being of these children and the families stuck in conflict zone,” she stressed.

As the skirmishes on the Working Boundary show no sign of coming to a halt, the physical and mental well-being of thousands of young and old Pakistanis is at risk. The government needs to do more than just relying on the ‘successful retaliatory fire’ of the Rangers because it’s not just the border which is at stake.

The writer can be reached on jajja.sumaira@gmail.com

  • Names changed to protect the privacy of individuals

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2015

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