Inheritance of War

Landmines endanger life of villagers 
Teenager, old man lose limbs in recent blasts

Ashutosh Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, August 5 
Thirteen-year-old Zahida Parveen was moving around while her cattle were grazing when she unwittingly stepped on an anti-personnel mine and set the device activated. Within a fraction of a second, there was a huge blast and the girl was lying unconscious on the ground.

Mohammad Shareef, father of Zahida Parveen (right) who got injured after she stepped on a landmine in Jandrola village in Poonch. Tribune photos: Inderjeet Singh A few hours later, she regained senses only to find that she had lost a lower-limb for the rest of her life. Admitted in the ward no. 2 of the orthopedics department at Government Medical College and Hospital Jammu, she is struggling to come to the terms with the rude reality. The incident happened on the evening of July 22 at the border village of Jandrola in Mandi tehsil of Poonch near the LoC. The mines randomly planted by the military have reportedly already killed at least five persons of the village. Mohammad Shareef, victim’s father, rued: “Army personnel were present near the spot, but they did not attend to the badly injured child lying unconscious there.  When I reached the spot, they were standing there as mute spectators”. An inconsolable Shareef, who is a small farmer, recollected: “I pleaded with junior army officers for a vehicle to rush my daughter to the hospital, but they were unmoved”. “With a great deal of efforts, villagers hired a private vehicle and only then she could be shifted to the district hospital and then to Jammu,” he said and added: “Gazing at her amputated leg, my dearest daughter laments as to why is she alive to live like a handicap”. “She was very excited after she got promoted to class VIII this year. But now she won’t be able to go to school,” he added. The girl was visibly choked with emotions and could not say anything. Shareef claimed to have spent Rs 30,000 on her treatment without any help from anyone. In the adjoining ward lies another mine victim, Mohammad Hussain (60) of Shahpur village in Haveli tehsil. He had been a porter with the Army for 15 years. On July 22, he was engaged in a work by the Army. He was cutting the bushes when a landmine went off. Though his right leg remained intact, his left leg below knee had to be amputated.  “I was shifted to the Civil Hospital at Poonch by the Army. Thereafter, my family shifted me to this hospital,” said Hussain. “The Army authorities had engaged me and used to mark my attendance but they were irregular in paying salary to me,” he alleged and added, “They have not extended any financial help to me so far”. “I am useless for the rest of my life,” he regretted and alleged, “They (Armymen) knew that the area had been mined which is why they did not clear the area themselves and asked me instead”. Like Zahida, he is also not the only person who became a victim of a landmine in his locality. “There are many others who have lost limbs in such blasts. They have also not got any relief from the government. Though the Army has assured to provide the job of a porter to my son, I will not allow him,” he added. (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110806/jkplus.htm#1)