Border residents pin hopes on Assembly polls for ‘safe living’

ARNIA IB (Jammu),
Nov 11:
Pinning their hope on the upcoming Assembly elections, people living in areas along the Indo-Pak border say they will vote for a party which will guarantee their rehabilitation to “safer places”.
“There are various issues, but we will only vote for the candidates who will assure us of concrete steps (of rehabilitation) for bright future of the border residents,” Arnia-dweller Preetam Chand, whose shop was damaged by a Pakistani mortar bomb, said.
Chand, who has recently returned home after fortnight -long shelling and firing from across the border forced his family to take shelter in a migrant camp in October, voices opinion similar to a large number of border people whose priority seems to be their “safety” from Pakistan’s misadventures.
“We have been demanding a five marla plot in safer areas and we will elect the candidate who can get us the land in safer areas,” Chand said.
Just a month ago the residents of this border belt were uncertain about their future after they became victim to the continuous ceasefire violations from across the border, but for a “bright future” these border residents now have high hopes on the Assembly elections.
“We have lots of expectations from the Assembly elections and we will elect a leader who can become the voice of the border residents, who can understand our pain and agony as we become sitting ducks every time hostilities between the two nations increase,” said Manohar Singh, another resident of Arnia who along with his family had to take shelter in a camp after Pakistani troops attacked their village on October 5.
Thousands of residents of this border belt were forced to leave their houses to take shelter in Government-run relief camps after Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing which killed around 11 people and injured nearly 100 on the Indian side.
“Though it was not for the first time that we had to leave our houses, but it was for the first time that the civilian population here was attacked by the Pakistani Army. Now there is a fear among the border residents that they can once again become the target of Pakistani bullets,” said a retired tehsilder from Arnia, Krishan Lal.
Even as electioneering is yet to pick up momentum in this border belt, which is part of Jammu district, the residents have already started discussing the issues on which they will elect their representative but their priority is safe living and rehabilitation to safer places.
The border residents alleged that even though Pakistani Army attacked them for ‘being Indians’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not bother to visit them to listen to their grievances.
“We faced Pakistani bullets because we are true Indians, but we feel sorry that our Prime Minister who went to celebrate Diwali with the flood-hit people of Kashmir, did not even bother to visit us and enquire about our well-being,” said Rajbir Singh, another resident of Arnia.
The residents say that this time they will vote for a candidate who showcases the ability to work for them in the Assembly.
“Irrespective of the party which the candidate represents, we will only vote for the candidate we are sure will work for our betterment and be our voice in the Assembly,” said Bimlo Devi.
They also expressed apprehension that the Pakistani side might try to disrupt the peace in the area during elections.
Election authorities, however, said contingency plan has already been put in place in case Pakistan tries to violate peace in the border belt during polling.
“In case Pakistan tries to disrupt peace, contingency plans are already in place and there would no impact on polling. But if everything remains normal the border residents can vote in their local polling booths,” Returning Officer Bishnah Shehnaz Akhter said.
The District authorities will relocate 125 polling stations along the International Border (IB) if required for free and fair elections, officials said. (PTI)

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