This village near LoC fence faces acute water shortage

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Sudpora (LoC), December 13

Every resident of Sudpora located high up in a mountain has to register himself at a small Army post before entering the village. The villagers have to deposit identity cards at the post near a fence and are issued separate cards that they carry with them as they proceed beyond the barbed fence toward their homes. They are not allowed mobile phones even though there is no telecom signal in the area. The entry to the village too is restricted from 6 am to 7 pm.

Sudpora, with a population of over 400, is a village between the barbed fence, also known as the Anti- Insurgency Obstacle System (AIOS), and the LoC in Teetwal and just across it is Pak Sudpora (in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). The two villages are divided by a stream which serves as the Line of Control.

The 2003 ceasefire came as a boon for the village with a large agriculture land as it started getting water for drinking and irrigation from PoK. The bonhomie on the LoC helped the villagers produce a rich crop of paddy for over a decade.

The facility, however, was suddenly stopped by PoK a few years ago, Mohammad Shafi Lone, a resident of Sudpora, said, adding that villagers used to pay the other side for water.

“There used to be a flag meeting between the Indian and Pakistani armies and local village representatives from both sides to allow water to our village through the Qazi Nag nullah, but that practice stopped a few years ago,” Lone laments. “The result is that the most fertile land in the Karnah valley has turned barren.”

Headman of the village Mohammad Mansha, 60, said once they used to produce the finest paddy but now they had to collect even feed for the cattle from outside.

“We are suffering immensely due to shortage of water,” Mansha said, adding that women have to trek at least 4 km to get water from a nullah.

A few years ago, the Army under goodwill programme Sadbhavana started a lift irrigation scheme, but the project was left half-way. “The scheme failed and we have been now left at the mercy of God as we continue to face water shortage,” Lone said.

The 6-km road from Muqam Chanpora to Sudpora too is in a poor condition, making it tough for villagers to travel.

Shah Nawaz, a teacher in the village primary school where 25 students study, said there were no bunkers on the school premises. “There is always the fear of ceasefire violations and the school at least should have a bunker,” he said.