| While the assembly election drama that could prove to be a
make-or-break effort for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the BJP is being played
out, we focused on another compelling drama on the rugged slopes of Doda in Jammu and
Chamba in Himachal Pradesh. Armed militancy in Jammu and Kashmir has had its effect on
nomads there who cross freely into Himachal. Some are hand in glove with the militants.
Many are victims of a violence that has spilled over from Kashmir to Himachal. Yet others
are victims of counter-insurgency operations, but with a difference. Paramilitary forces
combing the area have asked nomads to move away from the grazing pastures, robbing an
estimated 20,000 of their livelihood since September. Principal Correspondent Sayantan Chakravarty and Deputy Chief Photographer
Pramod Pushkarna spent nine days in Chamba and Doda, four of them trekking over 50 km of
dangerous terrain, with security forces on combing operations. They gathered a
ground-level view from the frontline in a unique battle. It is a complicated tale of lives
saved and lives destroyed at the flip of the same coin. One night on patrol with the
Indo-Tibetan Border Police in Chamba, the two had to cross a 6 ft chasm on a foot-wide
wisp of trail; if they missed, it was a 100 ft drop into the swirling Ravi. "Thank
God the moon was out," says Pushkarna. "We managed to scrabble across on a
toehold and a prayer."
We have another story to tell. In August, we ran an article
on the trauma of undertrial prisoners. One profile was of S.R. Shinde who spent over two
years in Yervada prison for stealing one halogen lamp from the Pune Municipal Corporation.
A local lawyer wrote to the Bombay High Court which issued a notice to the Maharashtra
Government. Shinde has since been released. Thousands more, unfortunately, still languish
without justice.
(Aroon Purie) |
