Latest news with #Bakarwal
Hans India
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Hans India
Over 40 sheep, goats killed in lightning strike in J&K's Ganderbal
Over 40 sheep and goats were killed on Tuesday in a lightning strike in Jammu and Kashmir's Ganderbal district. Officials said the animals were killed by lightning in the Hariganwan area of the Ganderbal district. The livestock belonged to a nomadic 'Bakarwal' (Goatherd) community. 'The Bakarwal has been identified as Abdul Wahid Khatana of Sunderbani in Rajouri district. He was grazing his flock in Chechi Pati in Hariganwan area,' said officials, adding that the lightning struck after a brief thunderstorm in the area. Gusty high-speed winds have resulted in damage to private and public property in the Valley during the last three days. Unusually high day temperature, shooting up to 32.6 degrees Celsius, has created low pressure zone over the Valley. This results in high-speed wind blowing into the Valley to stabilise the pressure-temperature equation. Accompanying hailstorm has resulted in huge damage to the apple crop, especially in the south Kashmir districts of Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian and Anantnag. At many places, damage has been caused by hailstorms to Paddy nurseries. The Paddy crop is grown by transplanting the saplings from the nurseries to the field. The entire Paddy crop season is spread from the beginning of May to the middle of October, during which the crop has to be sown, transplanted and harvested. Not adhering to the exact schedule often results in the failure of the Paddy crop to produce the grain for which it is cultivated. Rice is the stable diet of the people in the Valley. As the cultivable land has shrunken due to indiscriminate construction of houses, shops and malls, the area under the Paddy crop has alarmingly been reduced. This has made the people in the Valley dependent on government-run ration shops where rice is available at different rates to different segments of the society, depending on their financial status.
Arab News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
‘We just want peace': Kashmiri nomadic shepherds yearn for stability amid India-Pakistan tensions
MUZAFFARABAD: Muhammad Jahangir, 35, continuously walked for around four hours to finally find a green patch of land along the banks of Jhelum River, just outside the town of Garhi Dupatta in Azad Kashmir, where his goats could graze, and descended from the road to survey the riverside himself. While the grass and tree leaves there were barely enough to feed his herd of around 250 goats and a few sheep, Jahangir let out a series of sharp, familiar whistles along with others in his group and the trained animals began moving down the slope to nibble at the patchy grass. Jahangir hails from the Kashmiri Bakarwal community that comprises nomadic, pastoral people, who are known for raising sheep and goats, in both Pakistan and India-governed parts Kashmir, particularly in the Pir Panjal and Himalayan mountain ranges. The lives of these Bakarwals revolve around seasonal migrations with their herds, seeking grazing grounds on different altitudes depending on the time of year, but this May a far greater uncertainty loomed ahead in the form of India-Pakistan military incursions. 'We're coming from Kharian and our destination is Deosai,' Jahangir told Arab News, standing beside his flock a surprise truce between the two countries brokered by the United States (US). 'The situation ahead is said to be tense due to firing. Some of our Bakarwal groups are stuck near Panjkot Mali. We'll decide whether to move ahead or not depending on the conditions.' Jahangir and three of his fellows were en route to Deosai, a high-altitude plateau in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region that is known for its lush-green meadows. But they were forced to stop because of artillery, drone and missile strikes along the nearby Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir between Pakistan and India. Jahangir feared that if the situation continued to remain the same, they might not reach the highlands in time. 'We've heard that some people have lost their livestock, though we didn't see it ourselves. Some families have already turned back from Neelum [valley in Azad Kashmir] and returned,' Jahangir said. This particular group of nomads set out from Kharian over a week ago, traveling on the Grand Trunk Road and arriving in Muzaffarabad via Murree a resort town on the border of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. The four men managed the herd on foot, while their families had already moved ahead on horseback to set up makeshift camps along the way. Devoid of modern gadgets like smartphones and GPS, these nomads rely on inherited knowledge to assess the direction of the wind, position of stars, and bends of rivers to navigate the challenging terrain, though some of them carry basic feature phones that often have no signals in the mountainous regions. Once a celebrated lifestyle built on freedom and communion with nature, the nomadic way of living is now increasingly threatened by changing climate patterns, shrinking grazing grounds, and a lack of hospitality from settled communities along their traditional routes. 'People are so cruel [now], they don't even let us stay near their lands,' said Farooq Ahmed, another nomad. 'If we find a little government land near the river, we rest our animals there, otherwise the locals stop us from going uphill. They say the grass and trees are theirs.' For generations, these nomads' migration to Deosai has been about survival — escaping the blistering summer heat of the lowlands and reaching the cool, high pastures where food is abundant and livestock can thrive. But weeks of tensions between India and Pakistan over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 tourists on April 22, turned into a military conflict last week, leaving more than 60 people dead on both sides in four days of cross-border strikes and threatening the centuries-old nomadic way of life in the region. Although the US-brokered ceasefire between India and Pakistan remains intact, sporadic violations have been reported by locals in Azad Kashmir. For Ahmed, this truce offers little assurance. 'We just want peace,' he said. 'It has become a problem for everyone, every human being is suffering now.'
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Remote block along LoC in J&K connected by all-weather roads for the first time
Khwas, a remote block situated in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), has not experienced any terrorism-related incidents in the past year, according to a presentation made by Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Sharma on April 21. The change comes after four panchayats in the block were connected by road for the first time under the Union government's Aspirational Block Programme. Follow Pahalgam terror attack updates on April 26 Since 2021, after a lull of two decades, the Jammu region, which includes the Chenab Valley comprising Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Kathua, Udhampur, and Reasi districts; and the area to the south of the Pir Panjal range, comprising Rajouri and Poonch districts, has seen a resurgence in terrorist activities. This region was a hotbed of militancy in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mr. Sharma spoke on the Khwas block — an area spanning 2.63 sq. km., with the LoC forming its western boundary, and the Pir Panjal mountains to the north — at an event organised by the Department of Administration and Public Grievances on the occasion of Civil Services Day. He said Khwas is one of the remotest blocks in the country, with a literacy rate of 41%, and a population of 35,212 (2011 Census). 'Before the Aspirational Block Programme was launched, four out of 15 panchayats did not have any road connectivity with the block and district headquarters. This resulted in a cycle of poverty and terrorism,' Mr. Sharma said. Markanar panchayat, for instance, is located 121 km from the district headquarters of Rajouri, and it took three hours to trek to the village. The officer said the terrain and its remoteness were among the factors for terrorism in the Khwas area. 'It was highest in the number of terror incidents. Because of security issues, there was lack of monitoring of projects on the ground, no audit was done, no senior official would visit the block, and there was no connect with the people of the block,' Mr. Sharma said. The tribal Bakarwal community migrates down to the plains in the winters with livestock, moving up again in the summer months. 'When we analysed the situation, it emerged that the fundamental issue for low literacy rate was connectivity. Highest funds under government schemes were allotted to the block. All panchayats and villages are now connected by all-weather roads for the first time since Independence. For the past one year, no terrorist incident has occurred in the block. We discussed [this] with the security forces. They can reach any village now,' Mr. Sharma said. He said there was an overall change in the security paradigm due to road and Internet connectivity. 'Communication was a key issue. Khwas is 100% tribal, entire schemes could not reach the people because of the language barrier. We translated all the schemes to the Gojri panchayats are yet to be connected with Internet. Under the 4G saturation scheme, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) has started installing towers. In few months, the areas will be connected by 4G Internet,' the officer said. The Aspirational Block Programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2023 to cover 500 of the most backward blocks located in 328 districts of 27 States and four Union Territories.
