LoC village waits, who will help: India or Pak?

It was a four-hour walk to Chatkadien from Dildar on the Tangdhar-Teetwal road. A mile ahead of the fence, even ahead of the last Army post ...

It was a four-hour walk to Chatkadien from Dildar on the Tangdhar-Teetwal road. A mile ahead of the fence, even ahead of the last Army post on the Line of Control, Chatkadien didn’t escape the October 8 fury but it’s location is now cause for more misery: it’s in both India and Pakistan and neither is coming to its aid.

Reduced to rubble and 14 of its inhabitants dead, Chatkadien no longer exists. The few dozen Gujjar tribal families, who raised maize and tended to cattle, suddenly realise how cut-off they are.

Fareed Khan, 29, lost seven relatives: all buried in the debris. He reels off names: Adil (2), Irfan (6), Shazia (6), Arif (8), Zameer (8), Shabir (8) and Sameena (35). ‘‘All are dead. We have lost everything,’’ says Fareed.

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But Ishtiaq, also from the village, knows why no relief has still come their way so many days after the quake: ‘‘India thinks we are with Pakistan and Pakistan thinks we are with India. No one has come to our rescue. Without help, we are all going to die.’’

On the road to Chatkadien lies Tad. Thirteen people died here, all the houses collapsed. Survivors beg for blankets and food. Near the debris of a stone house, three children and two women have taken shelter beneath a polythene sheet while the rain comes down, thick and fast.

Kupwara Deputy Commissioner Abdul Majid Khanday, who’s heading relief and rescue operations in the region, said that a tent and some blankets have been sent to the village. ‘‘We don’t have enough tents, we are trying to arrange for more.’’