BARAF POST (India): Indian troops once braced for imminent war with Pakistan now pray for a lasting peace amid a historic ceasefire that is finally giving soldiers respite on the highly-militarized Kashmir borders.
“The truce has eased tensions a lot,” said Sulakhan Singh, one of 100 Indian troopers at this strategic post four kilometres (two and a half miles) from the disputed border with Pakistan.
Singh, stationed for the past nine months at this 3,350-metre (11,000-foot) high post, said the border truce between India and Pakistan in effect since Nov 26 was a “very good development” but that he wanted “permanent peace”.
His main duty is to look out for Muslim rebels, who India says are funneled over the frontier by Pakistan to take part in the Muslim uprising in the Indian side of the divided province. Pakistan denies the charge.
“They (the militants) cross from there,” Singh said, pointing to huge snow-tipped mountains under Pakistani control.
His officer, Colonel S. S. Chauhan, covered by a military jacket to shield him from the teeth-chattering chill, said the truce had brought total silence on the borders.
“The situation is being liked by the boys and the people down in the villages,” Chauhan said.
“We were ready for the war when the tensions were high with Pakistan nearly two years back,” the colonel said from his bunker.
“But now let us hope the truce brings permanent peace to the region.”
India and Pakistan mobilized a million troops on their borders, including in Kashmir, after a December 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad-backed Muslim militants.
The troops were withdrawn after assembly polls in Indian Kashmir in October 2002. India and Pakistan have been cautiously moving to repair ties since April when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a symbolic hand of friendship to Islamabad. Besides the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbours have restored full diplomatic ties and a bus service, with flights between the two countries to restart on Jan 1.
“This time if the government thinks that things will change through a ceasefire, let us pray for that,” said soldier Mukesh Kumar, an automatic rifle on his shoulders and a cold breeze whipping his face.
“If India and Pakistan become friends there will be no need for these posts,” he said near Tangdar village some 190 kilometers (118 miles) northwest of Indian Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar.
The village lies close to the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border, and has often been hit in the past by Pakistani shells.
“Our job of guarding the LoC for incursions and infiltration has not changed, but we are feeling more relaxed after the truce,” Kumar said. Another soldier, Audosh Kumar, said the ceasefire has removed the “fear” of incoming Pakistani shells and even attacks by Muslim militants.
Both Indian troops and rebels have said the border truce does not extend inside Indian Kashmir where the rebellion has killed tens of thousands since 1989.
“There is no infiltration. No militant movement at all. We are using this time to refurbish our bunkers,” Audosh Kumar said.
“The truce has made everyone happy, including the animals,” he said, referring to the dogs that are no longer shaken from sleep by the thuds of bursting artillery and mortars.—AFP