Kargil has left deep scars in children’s minds — Report

The two girls are among 35 families eking out a miserable existence at a makeshift camp for displaced persons at Gaganer. The inmates of Gaganer camp are among approximately 125,000 residents displaced from their villages near the 250 km Line of Control of Chhamb, Drass and Kargil.

A survey team of the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, which visited border areas during theheight of the Kargil operations last month documented the conditions of children like Tajalmara and Fatima.

The team, in a just-released report titled, `The children of Kargil – Effect of war on the development of children’, reveals that conditions of inmates at the temporary camps were pitiable. There was a strong possibility of epidemics breaking out in the camps as diarrhoea and skin diseases had spread rapidly among children, it said.

The report documents several case studies of children on whom the war has had a deep and adverse effect. A majority of them have no self-confidence, are irritable and lack the spontaneity and innocence of childhood. It urges that psychologists and doctors form a work team to carry out a time-bound medical investigation of affected children and submit a report with recommendations, keeping in mind the long-term adverse effects of war on the development of children.

Sajda and the 13 members of her family have been living at the camp for two months. She claims that sincetheir arrival they have received only four litres of kerosene and four kg of rice. One of her children has been constantly complaining of stomach ache while the other three have diarrhoea and fever. They have not received any of the economic or medical aid announced by the government, she claims.

The team’s leader Vinod Saini, citing an instance of administrative apathy, says in Akhnoor High School building, over 8000 people from the villages of Samvan, Chapriyal, Panjtooth and Palavalan have been camping, most of them in the open. Two tankers without lids were available for all their needs, two toilets of the school were locked for reasons unknown and women and girls had no closed place to take bath.

The SACCS team, which began its study in Mutthi camp near Jammu, encountered dismal conditions there. Small children were bathing in the muddy waters of a river while some were defecating in the open. There was provision for drinking water but the tanker did not have a lid and of the ten rooms in the schooleight were occupied by the refugees sans electricity.