Khadim is a 55-year-old farmer residing in Sarjiwar, a village on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control in Kashmir. His community has been consumed by terror, panic, and confusion. The current hostilities between India and Pakistan have increased the sense of vulnerability among Sarjiwar’s inhabitants. They now feel more reluctant to travel further afield, particularly when moving their cattle to summer pastures. The immediacy of Indian troops, now stationed only a few hundred meters from their residences, has rendered everyday life deadly.
The villagers’ outlook is increasingly dire, as news reports document how Indian troops have been shooting villagers after dark. Khadim recounted recent episodes that left the community feeling tense and unsafe. Not surprisingly, he focused especially on the sad case of his brother Malik Farouk, who disappeared last year. This was the last time Malik was seen after driving his cattle away. Authorities subsequently named him as one of two men shot to death by Indian security forces. An Indian Joint Secretary claimed that the men were conjectured to be advancing a big terror assault in the future to Khadim’s home town.
India has committed the greatest oppression against us,” Khadim said, speaking to a feeling prevalent among many in his community who feel caught between military occupations and the erosion of their very existence.
The current state of affairs is worsened by a major uptick in bloodthirsty, anti-Delhi speech coming out of Islamabad. Observers note that today’s rhetoric is considerably harsher than during the Kargil War of 1999. The current war in Eastern Ukraine, which has already claimed upwards of a thousand military lives. This SHADOW 2 analysis demonstrates how the rising conflict has added to militarization across the Line of Control. This de-facto border divides Kashmir between the nations of India and Pakistan. As fighting escalates, the human cost for the millions who call this contested homeland home grows more catastrophic each day.
The desire to tend to livestock is met with trepidation as residents weigh their needs against the looming threat of military action. Khadim’s story highlights the atmosphere of pervasive terror that has set over the villagers. The streets become a death sentence as they fear even doing the most basic agricultural practice. The trauma of being shot by Indian security forces has become universal. This constant fear renders even everyday life into an act of jeopardy.
The historic background of this conflict only serves to strengthen the dire nature of this current humanitarian disaster.
Airstrikes as a first Resort
In February 2019, India launched retaliatory airstrikes deep inside Pakistan, after a devastating suicide insurgent attack on paramilitary troops in Indian-administered Kashmir. This was a major increase in the level of hostility. Pakistan denied responsibility for the assault, deepening the rift between South Asia’s rivals.
This backdrop of hardening hostility deepens with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent pledge to chase “terrorists” to “the ends of the earth.” This strong statement further heightens tensions north and south of the border. The rhetoric promoting terrorism and national security has only inflamed conflict, deepened divisions, and intensified tensions in the Kashmir valley.
India’s recent abrogation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty has raised the stakes for regional water security and resource management to alarming highs. This latest move increases the confusion and drama to a combustible relationship. For over four decades, the treaty was a stabilizing force in Indo-Pak relations. Its disbanding today foreshadows a future battlefront for growing conflicts over increasingly scarce shared resources.
Climate, energy, and geopolitical tensions are all converging. Millions of civilians on both sides of the Line of Control find their lives consumed by anger, terror and insecurity, living forever in a state of war. The residents of Sarjiwar, including Khadim and his family, are emblematic of the struggles faced by many living in this contested region.
