Another battlefield

Besides looking after the displaced residents of the town, who are staying with relatives and friends in nearby villages, he has to ensureadequate stockpiling of foodgrains and other essential items for the ensuing seven-month winter period when the national highway from Srinagar will be blocked due to heavy snowfall.

Not too far away from the hotel is the district police headquarter. SP Deepak Kumar shows craters caused by shelling right outside his office. A civilian was seriously injured by the splinters of another shell which fell very close to the police headquarters a couple of days ago. In fact, scores of buildings in this town have been damaged and broken glasspanes and shattered roofs are a common sight all over the township. “Twice we had captured the area across the LoC from where they fire shells, and both times we were magnanimous in returning these areas to Pakistan,” says an army officer who has served in the area for a long time. Thus the residents do not foresee any relief even after the withdrawal of the intruders and a de-escalation of hostilities.

For several days after the discovery of the intrusion and heavy armymovement, the town, which has a population of about 25,000 persons, presented a haunted look. Virtually all the houses were locked and all shops closed as people migrated to comparatively safer belts. At least four residents were killed and several others injured in the increased shelling.

The only signs of life in the town during those days were the troops and an intrepid band of journalists who worked in adverse conditions to report from the battle-front. The only hotel that kept its door open was Hotel Siachen where about a score of journalists braved the shelling from across the border as well as an army of bedbugs.

The scribes, reporting for a host of print and electronic media, had to remain in a state of alert all through the days and nights. They kept zooming in and out of the hotel at odd hours and developed a close camaraderie which was limited to the stay in the hotel. Since the hotel did not provide food (as the kitchen boys had fled away), the journos combined to procure ration and cook theirmeals themselves. Some of them displayed their hidden talent in preparing various dishes.

However, the bonhomie vanished during the day time, that is, till the reports were filed. At times even roommates and the best of friends did not know what the other had filed. The desire to keep their stories secret from others was respected by all journalists although some had found innovative ways to eavesdrop on what others were sending. These innovations had better be saved for disclosure at a later date.

But these journos did hate a common `enemy’ — members of their fraternity who were ferried for a couple of days by the army in conducted trips to the battlefield. The `tourists’, as the veterans would call them, were shown special consideration by senior officers, much to the chagrin of those who had been reporting for weeks from the spot.