Page 89 - Love Story of a Commando

few hours, the trucks had been unloaded and soon the shelter was turned into
a military camp. Over the next few days, they built watchtowers and sandbag
bunkers along the school fence. Scores of machine gun nozzles and stern-
looking soldiers stared from the rectangular firing slats of the bunkers,
draped with wire mesh aimed at deflecting potential grenades.
We were given new rules to follow which especially emphasized that
half the school building was off limits at all times. We were also instructed
to carry our identity cards with us all the time and show it to the soldiers
every time we entered or left the school. The soldiers never bothered us, and
we went on with our daily schedules.
The soldiers set about their task of ‘area domination’—patrolling the
road passing by the school now and then. Strangely, none of it filled me with
a sense of security. Being a north Indian, the word ‘army’ had always
instilled confidence in me, but here, in this small village of Kashmir, it was
collapsing with my insecurity or fear maybe.
The Indian Army is a very dreaded and hated term in Kashmir.
Unlike tourists or other people from the rest of the country, who are mostly
welcome here, the army is always considered the enemy. The setting up of a
military camp in our shelter home also made us prone to guerrilla attacks.
We, uneasily, expected the inevitable. It was strange to be in the shoes of a
Kashmiri. The militants and the army both are considered a threat in
Kashmir.
Who loses after all? A common Kashmiri!
During my stay, I had learnt some hard facts too. Kids as young as
ten years old were sent to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for arms and
ammunition trainings. Some were forced to join the ongoing war by their
friends or relatives, and some would just be inspired to join by themselves.
Such kids would leave their families and flee their houses to join banned
organizations like JKLF (Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front) or Hizbul
Mujahideen or many other terrorist organizations. These various
organizations were ideological rivals. JKLF fought for an independent
Kashmir whereas the HM supported the merger of Kashmir with Pakistan.
Many of the Kashmiris trained locally in orchards or meadows and
were prone to regular army raids. But those who managed to cross the LOC
without getting shot at by BSF or Indian Army and could also come back
without getting killed were considered heroes. The families loathed every
single minute of it, but they were treated with great respect if their sons
returned safely to fight against the Indian Army. It also helped the young
terrorists attract female adulation, but the end result led to only one fate—
mourning of the death of their wards by family members. The consequences
of fighting against an organized and highly equipped army were inevitable
and they were to be eliminated sooner or later.