LAHORE: Haji M Ashraf was among the 400 or so residents of a Wagah border village who were captured by the Indian army during the 1965 war for an hour or so.

“The Indian soldiers wanted to kill us all but could not do so because of the intervention of their commander,” recalled the 65-year-old resident of Bhawan Chak, situated between the checkpoint and railway station of Wagha.

Gunshots awoke the whole population of Bhawan at around midnight on Sept 6. There was utter confusion but a majority of Bhawan population managed to cross the BRB canal bridge and reach Jallo before dawn when the Indians had advanced after killing some 16 Pakistani Rangers, an army captain and a major, manning the Wagha checkpoint.

“At around 7am on Sept 7, we could see long queues of Indian tanks and hundreds of soldiers on foot up to the BRB canal. Indian soldiers spotted some of us who had climbed trees to observe their movement. At around 8am, over 200 Indian soldiers entered the village, dragged us out of the houses and took us to the place where the first check post of Rangers is now situated. They wanted to shoot us dead but could not find any suitable place. There were Indian soldiers everywhere and opening fire on us might injure or kill some of them also.

“Meanwhile, their commander reached there and reprimanded the soldiers for detaining us. I still remember his words `We are here to fight with Pakistani soldiers and not with these unarmed villagers. Let them go’,” recalled Ashraf who had migrated from Peelu village of Gargawan district in Rajasthan to Bhawan in 1947.

It was then Ashraf and other residents of Bhawan took a sigh of relief and started moving towards the BRB bridge where debris of an Indian tank had left little space for crossing over to Jallo.

After six months or so, Ashraf and other villagers were allowed to return to Bhawan to find that the Indian soldiers had uprooted all the trees and taken away even bricks of their houses.

Rahmat, another resident of the village who had escaped capture by Indian soldiers, added that it seemed someone had razed the whole Bhawan with a bulldozer when they returned in March 1966. Initially, they had to earn their livelihood by collecting shrubs and grass and selling it at Jallo Mor Bazaar. Some government officials arrived there to assess losses and within a couple of days relief goods started arriving.

“We were supplied iron sheets for the roofs of our houses, seeds and bullocks for our fields and we raised Bhawan again,” Rahmat was recollecting his memories but was interrupted by another villager who said now the government was asking them to vacate Bhawan.

“Some National Logistic Cell officials have informed us that a dry port will be developed at our village. They are offering prices of our lands which are less than the market rates. They have also advised us to accept the offer otherwise the land will be acquired and we’ll get a nominal compensation,” claimed the villager who wished not to be named.