Click to play videoKashmir: Despite Pakistan’s objections, the Indian government has decided to realign the fence on the Indo-Pakistan border. Security forces say, that the move is aimed to make agricultural land available to farmers and also to keep an eye over the cross-border crime.
It is not guns, but the clatter of construction work that can be heard at the international border in the Jammu region these days. The fence at this section of the Indo-Pak border is being pushed back and farmers know, that this re-alignment means, that acres of their land will now be accessible for farming.
“We used to cultivate till the zero line, but for the last 8-10 years we are sitting idle. Now we shall get back to work and to the land,” says Kuldeep Singh, a farmer at the border area.
The border fencing came up after the Kargil war and much of the land beyond the boundary was out of farmers' reach. However, now the government has decided to realign 38 kilometers of fence, pushing it back with a few meters.
“The idea is that the farmers cultivate till the zero line. There were problems with the fence. Now it is moving back and 4000 acres of land is free for cultivation,” says JB Sangwan, Additional DIG, Border security force.
Although, Pakistan has raised objection to such works in the past, India maintains, that this is purely to check trans-border crime.
Moreover, border security fencing is purely an anti-infilitration measure. “Though we are shifting close to the border, certain norms have to be maintained. Though some objections have been rasied, but we have convinced them that it is not a defence measure,” says JB Sangwan.
For years this border fence was not only a deterrent for the infiltrators but also for the farmers. However, with the process of realignment, the farmers are hoping to lay their hands on every inch of land that has been theirs.
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